The US economy will begin creating jobs in the second quarter of 2010, according to a panel of White House economists.

The National Economic Council (NEC) has suggested that president Barack Obama will prioritize employment in the coming months, leading to a return to jobs growth in spring next year.

This viewpoint has been strengthened in recent weeks by the release of optimistic data from the labor department, which disclosed that the US unemployment rate declined by 0.2 per cent to ten per cent in November.

Lawrence Summers, director of the NEC, explained that the president's "number one priority" will be job creation for the duration of 2010.

He said: "I believe that, as do most professional forecasters, that by spring, employment growth will start to be turning positive."

Last week, a survey conducted by McClatchy and Ipsos discovered that the majority of US citizens support an international climate agreement if it creates jobs in the country's economy.