AP Photo/Susan Walsh

POLAND, Ohio-Speaking at a campaign event, President Obama told supporters that this morning's worse-than-expected jobs report marks a "step in the right direction."

"We learned this morning that our businesses created 84,000 new jobs last month. And that, overall, means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs," he said to applause from the packed auditorium at Dobbins Elementary School. "That's a step in the right direction."

Before the report, economists had projected around 90,000 new jobs were created in June, so the report was a disappointment. The economy needs to create around 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.

"But we can't be satisfied," Obama told voters in the key swing state, "because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. I want to get back to a time when middle-class families and those working to get into the middle class have some basic security. That's our goal."

The president made no mention of the nation's 8.2 percent unemployment rate in his brief comments on today's jobs report.

Admitting that "it's still tough out there," the president said, "we've got to grow the economy even faster. And we've got to put even more people back to work."

Obama reminded voters that the economic crisis wasn't created overnight and that it will take time for the economy to recover. "We've been steady. We've worked hard. And I know all of you worked hard," he said.

-Jake Tapper and Mary Bruce