Administration Says Economic Recovery Continues Despite Jobs Report

White House, GOP Point Fingers on Jobs Report (USA Today)

President Obama's aides and congressional Republicans offered different takes on Friday's less-than-stellar jobs report.

Obama aides cited the sequester; Republicans blamed Obama.

Employers added only 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months; the unemployment rate fell to 7.6%, but only because many people stopped looking for work.

Alan Krueger, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, noted in a statement that this is the first jobs report since the March 1 start of the sequester, $85 billion in automatic budget cuts.

"While the recovery was gaining traction before sequestration took effect, these arbitrary and unnecessary cuts to government services will be a headwind in the months to come," Krueger said. "The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the sequester will reduce employment by 750,000 full-time equivalent jobs by the end of the year. Now is not the time for Washington to impose more self-inflicted wounds on the economy."