Now that a deficit-reduction deal appears to be headed toward approval in Congress, it’s time for our elected leaders — in Congress and at the White House — to address another economic-related issue: unemployment.

Actually, work on that issue is long overdue. Just ask the 11 percent of Beaufort County residents unable to find work in June. Ask the 10.4 percent of North Carolina residents unable to secure employment in June.

Nearly half a million North Carolinians, not to mention others across the nation, are jobless. The great majority of them want to work so they can feed their families, keep roofs over their heads and provide their children better lives than they had growing up.

North Carolina and the nation need their elected leaders to find ways to stimulate the economy in ways that create jobs. The unemployed should not have to wait as political posturing on unemployment takes precedent over finding practical solutions that result in jobs being created.

Political parties should be more concerned with putting people to work and keeping them working rather than trying to make themselves look good and the opposition look ineffective.

The jobless want their leaders to spend less time talking about how to solve the problem and more time working to solve the problem.

Beaufort County’s unemployed don’t need rhetoric. They need jobs. And they need them now.