In its first reaction to this morning's worse-than-expected jobs report, the White House stressed that the nation is still fighting back from the recession and that the "problems in the job market were long in the making and will not be solved overnight."

"There is much more work that remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and deep recession that began at the end of 2007," Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, writes in a White House blog.

"Just like last year at this time, our economy is facing serious headwinds, including the crisis in Europe and a spike in gas prices that hit American families' finances over the past months.  It is critical that we continue the President's economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession," Krueger adds, pointing to the president's legislative "to-do list" for Congress to boost the economy, which he will be promoting today in Minneapolis.

The economy added just 69,000 jobs last month, below expectations of 150,000, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2 percent, the Labor Department announced this morning.

Krueger notes that the economy has added private sector jobs for 27 straight months and points to manufacturing, education and health services, and transportation and warehousing as areas where employment continues to expand.

As it does every month, the White House stresses that the monthly figures can be "volatile" and that "it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report."