Word from the jobs front is none too encouraging around the country, across the state and here at home. Double digit unemployment remains— 10.9 percent in Alabama, 14.4 percent in Talladega County and 10.8 percent in St. Clair County.

When President Barack Obama ascended to office, he promised 1 million jobs. Then, he upped it. But promises can’t be taken to the bank and deposited like a payroll check.

The country hasn’t made it to the first promise yet, and consumer confidence — the real driver of the economy — continues to hold back. And how can anyone blame them? It’s hard to spend when you don’t have a job. Nine thousand people are out of work between the two counties of Talladega and St. Clair.

On the national level, which has impacted the local region, Obama is now calling for a jobs summit on his return next week from a 10-day trip to Asia, and we hope stronger focus on job creation will be the result.

It will take intense concentration on the job picture to turn it toward a clear path for recovery.

We see pockets of success here at home — Lincoln’s Honda, which is tied to a suffering automobile industry, went to a four-day work week and maintained its workforce numbers.

AbitibiBowater in Childersburg, which is hurt by a downturn in the newspaper industry and has laid off workers, is looking at diversification to make it strong once again.

And in St. Clair, where a new hospital is being built, officials are going with a company as project managers whose aim is to hire a predominantly local workforce.

Those successes are because people are taking a new approach, not doing business the same old way and expecting a different outcome.

It will take looking at this problem with new eyes to turn it around. And officials on every level need to do just that.