President Obama has said creating jobs remains his No. 1 priority as he begins his second term. But on Thursday, the White House shut down an outside panel of corporate chieftains who advised Mr. Obama on ways to reinvigorate the job market.
The panel, known as the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, had a two-year mandate, which expired Thursday. The administration chose not to renew it, saying that the president would find new ways to reach out to business executives.
“The work of the job council was very valuable,†said Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, at his daily briefing. “While the president didn’t agree with all of itsrecommendations, he agreed with many of them and acted on a number of them.â€
Mr. Carney said the White House has spoken directly to business executives about the need to reach a fiscal deal, as well as about the campaign to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. Mr. Obama will hold more calls on those matters next week, Mr. Carney said.
Critics, however, said the White House never made use of the council. It met only four times in two years, the last time more than a year ago. They also noted that the White House was discontinuing it even though the nation’s jobless rate remained at 7.8 percent and the economy contracted slightly in the fourth quarter of 2012.
“To understand the abysmal nature of our economic recovery, look no further than the presid! ent’s disinterest in learning lessons from actual job creators,†Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner, said in a statement. “Whether ignoring the group or rejecting its recommendations, the president treated his jobs council as more of a nuisance than a vehicle to spur job creation.â€
Mr. Carney disputed that characterization, noting that the administration had acted on proposals by the council to retrofit government buildings for commercial purposes. The council, he said, also set in motion a plan to give businesspeople streamlined access to information about how to obtain financing from the Small Business Administration.
The chairman of the council was Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric. Its members included Steve Case, the media investor; Kenneth I. Chenault, the chairman of American Express; Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook; and Penny Pritzker, a Chicago philanthropist who was a major fundraiser for Mr. Obama’s campaign and whose name has recently surfaced as a possible candidate for commerce secretary.
