Washington, July 23 (DPA): US President Barack Obama has said the country's struggling economy is on its way to recovery, but warned that the job market will be the last thing to return to normal.

In an evening press conference at the White House Wednesday, Obama defended his own prescriptions for nursing the economy back to health and urged the US public to give his plans more time to work.

"We have been able to pull our economy back from the brink," Obama said in his opening remarks, noting that he inherited an economy mired in its worst recession in decades.

"I'll be honest with you - new hiring is always one of the last things to bounce back after a recession," he said.

While there have been signs that the US economy is improving, Obama's administration has faced growing unease as unemployment continues to rise by the hundreds of thousands. The jobless rate hit 9.5 percent in June, its highest level in more than a quarter-century.