With the nation's jobless rate already at 10.2% and expected by many economists to go at least slightly higher, President Barack Obama just announced that his administration is convening a jobs "forum" next month at the White House.

It will gather business owners, economists and other experts, to discuss "any demonstrably good idea" on how to get job growth going again.

The president said that:

"The economy's now growing again for the first time in more than a year."

"But even though we've slowed the loss of jobs ... the economic growth we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need."

Obama made the announcement just before his scheduled departure on a 10-day trip to Asia.

Update at 10:07 a.m. ET.

Here's an audio excerpt, at the point where the president speaks about the importance of being open to good ideas:

And here's audio of his entire statement:

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