Tackling unemployment remains a big challenge for US

Noting that the US still has a long way to go to address large scale unemployment, the White House said on Thursday the country's deficit is declining at the fastest pace since demobilisation after World War II.

"We are seeing our deficits decline at the fastest pace since demobilisation after World War II," the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference, responding to questions on the US economy.

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"While we need to take action to address our long-term, middle- and long-term deficit and debt challenges, we also need to focus on what we can do to keep the economy growing by investing in areas like infrastructure and innovation and research and development and education that provide immediate benefits as well as employment and also provide a long-term foundation for future economic growth," he said.

That is what the economic agenda of the US President, Barack Obama, has always been about, he asserted.

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Carney said the US has seen sustained economic growth.

"But the President is the first person to say that it is not enough and we have substantially more work to do.

That is why we need, with Congress, to work towards achieving policies that help the economy to continue to grow and create jobs," he said.

The President, he said has put forward numerous proposals, and he hopes that the Congress will work with him to enact those proposals towards job creation and assisting, for example, on a specific matter.

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"We've seen some strength in the housing market overall, and that has been positive in our recovery of late," he said.

"One item that would be of great benefit in furthering the expansion of the housing market and furthering its positive impact on both job creation and economic growth would be to extend the ability to refinance to millions of more Americans," he said.

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"We need Congress to work with us to do that. So far, Republicans in Congress have resisted that, but we believe it's the kind of thing that Democrats and Republicans can come together to achieve and produce the positive benefits for the economy and the American people, the same with investments in our infrastructure," Carney said.

He emphasised that there is need for the Congress to work with the Administration to invest in the economy, to help it to continue to create jobs as the country continues to bring down the deficit.