President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday that December's unemployment report marked a step back in the effort to revive job growth in the United States, dpa reported.
In a brief speech from the White House, Obama promised to "explore every avenue" to create more employment opportunities. The Labour Department earlier said another 85,000 jobs were lost in December, though the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10 per cent.
Obama said the world's largest economy "slipped back" in December after actually creating 4,000 jobs in the previous month, but added: "The overall trend of job losses is still pointing in the right direction."
Obama announced a new 2.3-billion-dollar tax credit for clean energy manufacturers, which he said would create 17,000 new jobs, using money from the 787-billion-dollar stimulus package approved in February 2009.