W.H. touts July jobs growth, GOP says it's not enough
With the release of July's employment numbers comes the predictable monthly spin from the White House and congressional Republicans.
The unemployment rate declined from 7.6 to 7.4 percent with 162,000 non-farm jobs added in July. However, job growth was slower in July than in June, when 188,000 jobs were added; through the first six months of the year, monthly job gains averaged 195,000.
Alan Kreuger, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers as he did last month, that "more work remains to be done" but argues that Friday's report "provides further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression."
"With the recovery entering its fifth year, we need to build on the progress we have made so far and now is not the time for Washington to impose self-inflicted wounds," Kreuger continued. "The across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester continue to be a drag on the economy now and in the future.
"The Administration continues to urge Congress to replace the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, and promote the investments our economy needs to put more Americans back to work, such as by rebuilding our roads and bridges."
In response, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was down on the latest job numbers, saying, "Three years after the Obama administration proclaimed 'welcome to the recovery,' we're still seeing the same thing month after month: not enough new jobs and an unemployment rate far higher than promised."
"Nearly five years of aggressive intervention by Washington - the 'stimulus' era of excessive spending, excessive red tape, and abuse by agencies like the IRS - has left our economy treading water with slow growth, high unemployment, and stagnant wages."