President Barack Obama went to the Rose Garden on Friday morning to try to allay concerns about the state of the economy and new job figures showing unemployment on the rise.

“As I’ve said from the start, there’s no quick fix to the worst recession we’ve experienced since the Great Depression,” Obama said in response to Labor Department figures showing unemployment rose to 9.6 percent in August, up from 9.5 percent in July.

“It took years to create our current economic problems. It will take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage. Millions of our neighbors are living with that painfully every day,” he said. Noting that the economy added 67,000 private-sector jobs last month, he added, “I want all Americans to remind themselves there are better days ahead.”

The president hinted that he would be unveiling “a broader package of ideas next week” aimed at boosting the economy. He issued another appeal to Senate Republicans to stop blocking a small-business jobs bill that has languished for more than a month.

“Once again, I am calling on Congress to make passing a small-business jobs bill its first order of business when it comes into session next month … Put simply, this piece of legislation is good for workers, it’s good for small-business people, it’s good for our economy.”

Obama was joined by members of his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, economic adviser Larry Summers and Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer.