The unspent money under a financial system bailout package could be used to tackle the United States' double-digit unemployment, said President Barack Obama on Monday.

Obama told the media after a meeting with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) had turned out to be much cheaper than expected, freeing up cash to pay down the deficit and boost jobs.

The president is scheduled to deliver a major speech on Tuesday outlining job creation methods.

"TARP has turned out to be much cheaper than we had expected although not cheap," Obama said. "It means that some of that money can be devoted to deficit reduction and the question is, are there selective approaches that are consistent with the original goals of TARP -- for example making sure that small businesses are still getting lending that would be appropriate in accelerating job growth?"

"I will be addressing that tomorrow," he added.

Obama held a job summit in the White House last Thursday, aiming to seek new ideas for creating jobs to solve the tough unemployment problem. He said he would provide his ideas of job creation on December 8.

The US unemployment rate stood at 10.0 percent in November, down 0.2 percentage points from October. The White House said that the labor market "is moving in the right direction" after the Labor Department released the data last Friday.

But some economists warned that the unemployment rate might continue to rise in the coming months.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2009)