Obama pledges focus on job creation

By JIM KUHNHENN

 Associated Press

Jun 13, 8:13 PM EDT

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Beset by a grim employment picture, President Barack Obama on Monday pledged to ease the way for businesses to expand hiring and offered assurances to an anxious public that he is focused on creating jobs - the top political issue heading into the 2012 election and the Achilles heel of his presidency.

"The sky is not falling," Obama said. But the president, in a state that he narrowly won in 2008, could not ignore dismal recent economic reports.

"Our economic challenges were years in the making," he told workers at an energy-efficient lighting plant in Durham, "and it will take years to get back to where we need to be."