Obama seeks patience on slowing economy

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama Saturday sought the public's patience with a slowing economy and said training workers for manufacturing jobs despite declines in that sector would help put the economy on a path toward growth. He said the recession didn't happen overnight and won't end that way, either.

"It's going to take time," Obama said in his weekly radio and online address.

Recent polling shows broad disapproval with Obama's handling of the economy, which is becoming the central issue in next year's presidential election. Such disapproval hit a record 59 percent in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Job growth slowed sharply in May and unemployment inched up to 9.1 percent, according to economic indicators that also showed manufacturers cutting 5,000 jobs last month. Those were the first job losses in that sector in seven months.

No president since World War II has won a second term with a jobless rate above 7.2 percent, and Obama's options for sparking faster economic growth before the November 2012 election appear limited.

Monday, Obama is to head to Durham, N.C., for a brainstorming session with his jobs council on steps Washington can take to encourage private-sector hiring.

"If you're a student considering community college, you'll know that your diploma will give you a leg up in the job market," Obama said Saturday.

He said other steps, such as providing students with a quality education and investing in new jobs in the clean energy sector, will also help the economy grow.