Obama Jobs Council Hasn't Met in Months: Report

(Newsroom America) -- Despite lackluster employment growth and a jobless rate that has remained stubbornly high, President Barack Obama's jobs council hasn't met in months, reports said Wednesday.

The council's last official meeting was Jan. 17, but that could be an advantage to the administration, Politico reported.

That's because many of the council members are in the private sector and could be reluctant to be tied to the president during his reelection bid - especially businesspeople opposed to him.

Also, some of the companies led by council members are involved with outsourcing - currently an issue the Obama campaign is using against likely GOP opponent Mitt Romney who they say outsourced U.S. jobs during his tenure at financial firm Bain Capital. Romney has said those claims are largely false and has pointed to the president as the real "outsourcer in chief."

As such, council members would prefer to operate in an apolitical environment, a former Obama administration official told Politico.

"The thing is supposed to be bipartisan, so a lot of times they don’t want to get into things that could be used by either side in the election," the official said. "The businesspeople, for the most part, don’t want to get into the middle of political fighting."

Obama formed the council in January 2011 following the Democrats' drubbing in the mid-term elections as a way to repair his reputation with the business community.

Since then, throughout his reelection campaign, Obama has been seen as critical of the business community.

General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt heads the group.

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