WASHINGTON — Republican challenger Mitt Romney seized on the weak April jobs report as evidence President Barack Obama has mishandled the economy, calling it “terrible and very disappointing,” even as the White House argued that the overall trend shows the economy is still recovering, albeit slowly.
The central premise of Romney’s campaign is that Obama has been an ineffective steward of the economy and that job growth should be much stronger than it has been during this administration.
“We seem to be slowing down, not speeding up. This is not progress,” Romney said on FOX News’ “Fox & Friends,” just minutes after the April figures were announced. “The president’s policies have simply not worked,” he said.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 115,000 last month, weaker than the 168,000 increase expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Obama has argued that he inherited a deep hole and has helped the nation slowly climb out of a historic slump. The president’s argument seemed to be gaining steam early this year after three consecutive jobs reports posted gains of more than 200,000 a month. But after a slower pace in March, analysts were looking to the April report for signs of whether the economy is stalling again.
The US lost nearly 8.8 million jobs from 2008 to 2010, more than in the previous four recessions combined.
The White House argued Friday that, looking at the long-term trend, the economy is strengthening.
“Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but much more remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and the deep recession,” Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement.
Republicans countered that any effort to find a silver lining in the report is misguided.
“There’s not enough silver there to constitute a thread, much less a lining,” said Republican economist Doug Holtz-Eakin.
With the election six months away, observers say there is still time to shape voter impressions of the economy. But the April report suggests economic and job growth this year will be steady, but only modest, making it harder for Obama to persuade voters that things are improving.
Friday’s report also showed a drop in the unemployment rate, to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent, because of workers leaving the job market, not getting new jobs. The White House pointed to the longer-term trend, noting that the rate has fallen a full point since August, when it stood at 9.1 percent.
To read more, go to The Wall Street Journal.