(CNN) — A better-than-expected jobs report Friday was still cause for concern among Republicans, who said the wide swath of Americans still looking for work were being poorly served by President Barack Obama’s policies.
“Today’s jobs report brings some good news for a lucky few who found jobs–but not nearly enough hope for the millions of Americans who still need work,” wrote Republican National Committee Chairman Priebus in a statement issued shortly after the jobs report’s release. He singled out the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s sweeping health care law, as a cause for further unemployment.
“Frustratingly, with the ‘train wreck’ of Obamacare implementation on the horizon, job creation is more likely to slow down than to speed up,” Priebus wrote. “Already, it’s increasing the cost of healthcare, which in turn means fewer jobs, fewer hours, and less take home pay for those struggling for work.”
Friday’s jobs report showed the U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April. That was more than economists expected and marked an improvement over March.
Another major storyline was the large revisions to earlier job growth numbers. Revisions to the February and March figures showed an additional 114,000 jobs were added over those months alone.
The unemployment rate fell to 7.5% in April, as 11.7 million people were counted as unemployed. That’s still high compared to historical levels.
House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged there was “good news” in Friday’s report, but stressed “the president’s policies still aren’t providing the robust economic growth and job creation the American people desperately need.”
“To get things moving, we need to seize opportunities the president has been ignoring, and focus on growing our economy rather than growing more government,” the Ohio Republican wrote. “That means expanding energy production and modernizing our laws to make life work for more American families.”
Alan Krueger, the chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, wrote in a statement that “more work remains to be done” to spur hiring.
“Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression,” Krueger wrote. Identical statements are released after every monthly jobs report. “It is critical that we remain focused on pursuing policies to speed job creation and expand the middle class, as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.”
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