There is no more important task facing our nation's business and political leaders than growing our economy through jobs and investment. President Obama recently announced a new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (PCJC) which will focus on these issues.
At Comcast, we're proud of our history in these areas, and we are constantly innovating to grow our business. My father Ralph is one of America's great entrepreneurs; he started Comcast as a small business with just a few hundred customers in Tupelo, Mississippi. With the recent completion of the NBCUniversal joint venture, we now have over 127,000 employees, with the vast majority of those jobs located in the U.S.
In our business, we've seen first hand how the economic downturn has affected American consumers in their everyday lives. We've seen the effects of a lack of housing starts, of job loss, and of other businesses not being able to invest in tools to grow like advertising. We've also begun to see the signs of an improving economy.
I am honored that the President appointed me to the PCJC, and look forward to working with Chairman of the Council and GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and the other appointees. I look forward to contributing my insights on the creative industries where America continues to lead and innovate. I applaud the President's efforts to bring this bipartisan group together to tackle the complex problem of how our country can continue to lead the world economy.