Heading to Allentown

Today, the President heads out of Washington, DC to Allentown, PA.  He plans to meet with workers and small business owners who have felt the impact of our current economic crisis first-hand.  I'll be traveling with the President to give an inside perspective into the day's events.  So keep an eye on the blog for some posts from the field and more frequent updates via twitter and photos on facebook - like this one.

To get a sense of what's happening in Allentown, check out this video that profiles two small businesses in the area, and which was shown at the opening of the President's Jobs Forum yesterday:

The President will arrive in Allentown with some news about the job market, as the unemployment rate began to decline slightly this month.  As Christina Romer, Chair of the President's Council on Economic Advisors reported:

Today's employment report was the most hopeful sign yet that the stabilization of financial markets and the recovery in economic growth may be leading to improvements in the labor market.

This trip also comes a day after the President held a forum on jobs at the White House, where participants focused on a number of topics including infrastructure, exports, green jobs, small business, investment, and helping workers on Main Street.  And the White House isn't the only place where these discussions are happening - across the country, people have signed up to host their own community jobs forum (you can learn more about that here).