ARLINGTON, Va. — Buoyed by better-than-expected jobs numbers, President Obama said Friday that the US economy is growing and that the nation’s economic recovery is “speeding up.”
Obama made the remarks at a fire station in Arlington, Va., after the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest level since February 2009.
“The economy is growing stronger, the recovery is speeding up,” Obama said. “We’ve got to do everything in our power to keep it going.”
Still, despite his optimistic tone, he warned that “these numbers will go up and down in the coming months.”
Hailing the release of “more good news about the economy,” the president said the US had added 257,000 jobs in the month of January.
“The unemployment rate came down because people found work,” he said, noting that the country had added 3.7 million jobs over the last 23 months.
He also implored lawmakers in Washington to keep the momentum going.
“We can’t go back to the policies that led to this recession and we can’t let Washington stand in the way of our recovery,” he said. “Don’t muck it up, keep it moving in the right direction.”
Prior to his remarks, the Labor Department announced that non-farm payrolls rose by 243,000 last month, marking the biggest gain since last April. The jobless rate also fell by two-tenths of a point to 8.3 percent.
Both figures contradicted expectations of a slowdown in job growth to start the year. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast a gain of 125,000 in payrolls and for the jobless rate to remain at 8.5 percent.
Speaking at a business roundtable event in Sparks, Nev., Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney took a break from bashing the president to acknowledge the positive economic news.
“We got good news on the job market this morning,” he told gathered employees at Western Nevada Supply. “I hope that continues.
“I believe the economy will come back. It always does,” he said before blaming the administration for instituting policies that had stalled recovery.
“The policies of this administration have not been helpful. In fact, they’ve been harmful,” he said.