WASHINGTON (MCT) — President Barack Obama in December will host a White House forum about creating jobs and growing the economy, he said Thursday, amid signs that the economy is improving but job growth is lagging.

Obama said the meeting would include chief executives of corporations, labor leaders, economists and others, “to talk about how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again.”

Obama spoke after the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims dropped by 12,000 in the latest week to 502,000, the fewest initial claims since early January. He called the report a “hopeful sign,” but said it’s not enough.

“The economic growth that we’ve seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need,” Obama said at the White House, just before departing for a trip to Asian countries.

Obama said he’d use meetings with Asian leaders to discuss a “balanced and broadly shared” strategy for economic growth.

“It’s a strategy in which Asian and Pacific markets are open to our exports, and one in which prosperity around the world is no longer as dependent on American consumption and borrowing, but rather more on American innovation and products,” Obama said.

Obama’s eight-day trip in Asia will take him to Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul, as well as to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore. There, he is slated to meet with 18 fellow world leaders.