(RALEIGH) -- In what could be called dueling news conferences on Thursday, the leader of the state and the leader of the state Senate went back and fourth on the issue of jobs along with what it takes to create them as the state comes out of a recession.

Gov. Bev Perdue said jobs and education should be the focus of the legislature and that should be reflected in the new state budget.  "And that what's I'm about and what I've been about since I became governor," said Perdue. "That's what the people on North Carolina want us to focus on."

Senate president Phil Berger said while that is important there are other pressing issues that must come before lawmakers. "It would be very nice if you could just flip a switch and all of sudden 100,000 jobs are created. Well, government can't do that," said Berger. "What government can do is enact policies, provide the private sector with some confidence that those policies will have some continuation, some consistency."