Obama keynotes White House forum on jobs and economic growth

[*] PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Please have a seat.

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm glad you all could join us today for this job forum here at the White House. We've got leaders from just about every sector of the economy -- government, labor, academia, nonprofits and businesses of all sizes. And I know that your unions or universities or cities or companies don't run themselves, so I appreciate that you've taken the time to be here today.

And I appreciate the unique perspective each of you brings to the great economic challenge before us: the continuing plight of millions of Americans who are still out of work.

Sometimes in this town, we talk about these things in clinical and academic ways, but this is not an academic debate. With one in 10 Americans out of work and millions more underemployed, not having enough hours to support themselves, this is a struggle that cuts deep, and it touches people across this nation.

Every day I meet people or I hear from people who talk about sending out resume after resume and they've been on the job hunt for a year or a year and a half and still can't find anything and are desperate. They haven't just lost the paycheck they need to live, they're losing the sense of dignity and identity that comes from having a job.

I hear from business owners who face the heartbreak of having to lay off long-time employees or shutting their doors altogether. In some cases, businesses that they've taken years to build, in some cases businesses that they inherited from their parents or their grandparents.