In its first reaction to today’s jobs report, the White House says that the unemployment rate “remains unacceptably high” and that “clearly, faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn.”

Today’s worse-than-expected jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the nation’s unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9.1 percent. However, in a White House blog Katharine Abraham, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, notes that private sector payrolls increased by 17,000 and that “despite a slowdown in economic growth from substantial headwinds experienced throughout the year, the economy has added private sector jobs for 18 straight months, for a total of 2.4 million jobs over that period.”

As they do every month, the White House notes that monthly unemployment numbers are “volatile” are that it’s important “not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

Today’s figures set the stage as the president prepares to outline his jobs proposal before Congress next week. “Next week, the President will lay out a series of additional bipartisan steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the paychecks of working and middle class families; to make it easier for small businesses to hire workers; to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure; and other measures that will help the economy grow while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order,” Abraham writes.