In a jobs report unaffected by Hurricane Sandy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the U.S. economy added 171,000 nonfarm payroll jobs during October with a gain of 184,000 jobs in the private sector. The unemployment rate increased to 7.9%.

U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX), Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said, "The final economic report of the Obama presidency is in. It’s official – on job creation President Obama's recovery ranks dead last in modern times. His failure over four years to achieve merely an average recovery means 3.7 million more Americans are unnecessarily searching for work this morning and our nation's budget deficit is twice as high as it needed to be.”

Brady noted, "America's poor recovery is not a matter of time; it’s a matter of policy. No American president in the past 70 years has made poorer policy decisions on the economy than President Obama. The numbers simply don't lie."

Hurricane Sandy did not affect today’s report. The establishment survey, which estimates payrolls jobs, is based on the pay period that includes the 12th of month. The household survey, which estimates the unemployment rate, is based on the week that contains the 12th of the month. Any employment effects of Sandy will appear in next month’s report.

Of the ten economic recessions and recoveries lasting more than a year since World War II, President Obama’s ranks last – half as strong as the average recovery. An average recovery would have created 3.7 million additional jobs and a recovery equal to the pace of the Reagan recovery would have generated 6.9 million more jobs over the same period of time.

Brady concluded, “The reality is that the drop in the unemployment rate since it peaked in October 2009 at 10% has less to do with the economy improving than it has to do with people losing hope and dropping out of the labor market. If labor force participation had not declined since the President took office, the unemployment rate would stand at 10.6%, not 7.9%. The White House had predicted that the unemployment rate would have fallen to 5.4% by this time with the passage of the President's stimulus plan."