A rising and thriving middle class is the engine of U.S. economic growth, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"After years of grueling recession,[Hong Kong Company Formation, Incorporation, Business Registration] our businesses have created over six million new jobs," said Obama, adding that "our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before."

The U.S. economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can't find full-time employment. Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged, Obama said.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) declined 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, the first time that U.S. economy has declined in about three years. The nation's unemployment rate edged up to 7.9 percent in January from 7.8 percent in the previous month, official figures showed.

[Hong Kong Company Formation|Hong Kong Company Registration]Obama used the prime-time TV address to argue that across-the-board automatic government spending cuts scheduled to kick in on March 1 will hamper economic growth and job creation.

The "sudden, harsh and arbitrary" spending cuts would jeopardize U.S. military readiness and devastate priorities like education, energy and medical research.

They would certainly slow U.S. recovery, and cost the nation hundreds of thousands of jobs, [Hong Kong Company Registration Guide]Obama stressed.