Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, today called the meager increase of 82,000 in the number of private sector jobs and the accompanying rise in the unemployment rate to 8.2% “grim.”

Brady called it “inexcusable” that the United States has 4.6 million fewer private payroll jobs than it did when the recession hit back in December 2007. “Four and a half years later, we are still struggling to get back to where the economy was, let alone move forward,” he said.

“I seriously doubt that we are likely to see significant pick-up in the economy any time soon. For forty months now, the United States has seen an unemployment rate above 8%. Yet the president and his team forge on with policies that keep us considerably behind from where we should be. For anything to change, the administration will have to change its entire attitude toward business and the private sector and admit that its policies have not worked. I would not count on that,” Brady said.

“It’s always gratifying to know that more Americans found jobs last month. But we have a long, long way to go before we can say that as a nation, we are ‘prospering,’ ” the Congressman continued.

“As I did yesterday, I call upon the president to put in place policies that reflect the way the world really works and to stop viewing the economy through rose-colored glasses, shaped by ideological misperceptions,” Brady continued. “The way to sustained economic growth is by releasing the creative impulses of the American people. And we can do that by freeing job creators from the burdens of excessive taxation and regulation and trusting those who generate and perform jobs to decide for themselves how to manage the fruits of their labors.”