WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday hailed third-quarter U.S. economic growth as "affirmation that this recession is abating."
But Obama, in prepared remarks for a speech to small business leaders, said there is still a "long way to go" to fully restore U.S. economic strength and renewed job creation will be a key benchmark.
"This is obviously welcome news and an affirmation that this recession is abating and the steps we've taken have made a difference," Obama said after the release of government figures showing the economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in a year.
U.S. GDP growth rebounded at a 3.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter after shrinking by 0.7 percent in the previous three months, ending a year-long slump that had inflicted the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression.
The sharp rebound in U.S. growth in the third quarter showed the economy was healing after a long recession, but job creation would take longer to pick up, a top White House economist said.
"The turnaround in crucial labor market indicators, such as employment and the unemployment rate, typically occurs after the turnaround in GDP," Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement.
"And it will take sustained, robust GDP growth to bring the unemployment rate down substantially."
Romer said on CNBC television that the rebound does look broad based.
"We see consumer spending. We see some investment spending going up. Those are all good signs. So I do anticipate that this is the turnaround," she said.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Patricia Zengerle and Alister Bull, Editing by Sandra Maler)
