In response to this morning’s jobs report, the White House says unemployment remains “unacceptably high” and that the latest numbers underscore the need to pass the president’s jobs bill. 

“Clearly, we need faster economic growth to put Americans back to work,” Katherine Abraham, a member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, writes in a White House blog. “Today’s report underscores the President’s call for Congress to pass the American Jobs Act to put more money in the pockets of working and middle class families; to make it easier for small businesses to hire workers; to keep teachers in the classroom; to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure; and other measures that will help the economy grow while not adding to the deficit over ten years.” 

While American employers added 103,000 jobs to their payrolls in September, the overall unemployment remains steady at 9.1 percent, “a level that is unacceptably high,” Abraham writes. 

Abraham highlights the sectors of the economy that are adding jobs, including business services, health care, information and construction, and those that are experiencing declines, including government and manufacturing.  She also stresses that the economy has added private sector jobs for 19 straight months, totaling 2.6 million jobs. 

As always, she notes that it’s important not to read too much into any one monthly report. “The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision,” she writes.