Obama jobs forum to seek growth boost on the cheap

By Alister Bull - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's December jobs forum may be better at serving his political need to show the White House cares about sky-high U.S. unemployment, than discovering new ways to cheaply boost economic growth.

Obama said last week he was interested in measures to speed job creation without spending money and warned that running up more debt could risk a double-dip recession.

The White House has already stressed that the December 3 jobs conference will not be about a second stimulus package.

Obama is under pressure to tackle the highest U.S. unemployment in a generation, which, at 10.2 percent, is dragging down his once lofty poll ratings and could hurt his fellow Democrats in congressional elections next year.

There is a long history of presidents hosting "economic summits" to show their concern about the economy, including Bill Clinton's in December 1992 -- before he had even taken office -- and George W. Bush's in August 2002.

But economists say that by appearing to rule out significant additional spending to lift the economy, Obama will limit what the forum can achieve, and he risks making it look like an exercise in public relations.

"You need more demand for goods and services in order to have people willing to hire people," said Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think-tank in Washington.

"I don't know how you do it without things that are really effective at stimulating demand growth," he said.