The U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs in July, the highest amount of new jobs since February of this year.
The unemployment rate, however, grew slightly, going from 8.2 to 8.3 percent.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the bulk of the jobs were created in professional and business services, manufacturing and food services and drinking places.
Alan Krueger, the Chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted that while there’s more that needs to be done to bolster the economy, July’s job numbers represented the 29th straight month of job creation.
Krueger added that lawmakers could help the country’s employment situation by passing remaining provisions in the White House’s Jobs Bill.
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney characterized the new numbers as “a hammer blow to struggling middle-class families.”
“Obama doesn’t have a plan and believes that the private sector is ‘doing fine.’ Obviously, that is not the case,” Romney said in a statement. “We’ve now gone 42 consecutive months with the unemployment rate above eight percent.”
