The Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported that in March the economy added 95,000 private sector payroll jobs and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.6%.

U.S. Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said “America's troubling growth gap continues to widen, with the nation missing more than 4 million jobs and nearly $1.3 trillion from our economy as a result of the weak Obama recovery. Unless the President changes course, a lot of families will continue without a breadwinner and millions of Americans will remain without hope of finding a job."

Brady also noted that the civilian labor force declined by 496,000. As a result, the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 63.3 percent. “We have not seen this low level since Jimmy Carter.”

"That's a red flag. It is unsatisfactory progress by any measure. We know that massive government stimulus, higher taxes and Washington red tape aren't working. Isn't it time to enact real pro-growth policies that encourage job creation and investment?"

According to JEC analysis, the growth gap between the number of private jobs generated by an average post-war recovery and the current recovery expanded to 4.2 million. The current recovery remains the weakest in terms of real GDP growth among all recoveries that lasted more than one year since World War II.

If growth during the Obama recovery had merely been average, real GDP would be 9.2% or nearly $1.3 trillion higher.