Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is “pleased, but not satisfied” that the nation’s unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent last month and still expects it to hit 10 percent before a recovery takes hold, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

“We’re still losing jobs and we have work to do,” Gibbs said this morning. “Without seeing some genuine, positive, sustained job growth, you’ll likely to see the rate continue to go up.”

President Barack Obama will make remarks on the economy at 1:30 p.m. Washington time from the White House. In his weekly radio address on Aug. 1, Obama said it will take “many more months” for the U.S. to shake off the recession.

The Labor Department reported today that the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent in June. Payrolls fell by 247,000 after a loss of 443,000 a month earlier. The nation has lost about 6.7 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, the biggest decline in any economic slump since World War II.

Obama is putting the economy back at the forefront of his remarks to the public as polls show it remains the top concern of Americans. At a fundraiser last night for Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, Obama said his polices have “brought this economy back from the brink” of a depression.

Stocks gained and Treasuries dropped after the jobs report stoked optimism for a recovery in the second half of the year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington at echen32@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 7, 2009 10:55 EDT