Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee, commented on today’s announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that the economy added 217,000 nonfarm payroll jobs and 216,000 private sector jobs during May. BLS also reported that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.3%.

“It’s welcome news that our economy added 216,000 private sector jobs during May. Unfortunately, despite today’s news, the private sector jobs gap increased and now stands at 5.8 million,” Brady said.

“To put the anemic nature of Obama recovery in perspective, the United States will have to add 371,000 private sector jobs each month from now until the end of President Obama’s term just to catch up to an average recovery. One problem - that monthly pace has never been reached in this disappointing recovery,” Brady added.

“Americans hurt by this disappointing recovery will never enjoy a strong job market as long as the President continues his job killing ways, including imposing extreme global warming regulations that will cost jobs, and drive up energy prices with no noticeable impact on the earth's normal cooling and warming patterns. The President’s message to hardworking Americans is that he only cares about your job if it’s one he likes,” Brady continued.