HYATTSVILLE, Md. (AP) — President Barack Obama says the addition of 431,000 new jobs in May shows "the economy is getting stronger by the day."
Speaking at a trucking company outside Washington, Obama embraced the Labor Department's new employment snapshot, released Friday morning. A burst of census hiring lifted payrolls last month, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 percent.
Obama notes that the economy has seen job gains for five straight months after devastating losses from the recession. He says the recovery is still in its early stages, and that it will be uneven in the months ahead.
The president says that even though the census jobs are only temporary, private sector hiring is growing, too.