President Obama's chief economic adviser continued to defend the strength of the latest jobs data on Tuesday, even though other economists have suggested that the economy is still in a slow recovery despite job gains.
Speaking at an economics conference on Tuesday, Alan Krueger, chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, pointed to the strength of recent employment data, saying it's not a "statistical fluke."
Over the past six months, he said, private employers have added 1.3 million jobs, the most in any six-month period in six years. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3% from 9% in September.
A day earlier at the same conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claimed the data doesn't match with the economy's still modest growth.
"We cannot yet be sure that the recent pace of improvement in the labor market will be sustained," he said. Theories have abounded, pointing to statistical quirks in the data and warmer weather as a factor.
But Krueger said he's confident in the data and rejected claims about weather in particular.
"We have indeed had warmer weather this winter," he said. "But the evidence suggests that the recent job gains have been more robust than merely a result of favourable weather."
The government is scheduled to release its next monthly jobs report on April 6. The Council of Economic Advisers predicts two million jobs will be added in 2012.
