Economy, jobs market faces "serious headwinds": White House

President Barack Obama's top White House economist said on Friday the May jobless figures show the economy is growing but not fast enough and that it still faces "serious headwinds" from the euro-zone crisis and gas price spikes.

"Problems in the job market were long in the making and will not be solved overnight," Alan Krueger said in a statement after the Labor Department reported that employers added only 69,000 jobs last month and the unemployment ticked up to 8.2 percent.

"There is much more work that remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and deep recession." he said, urging that Congress act on Obama's stalled job creation proposals. Stubbornly high unemployment poses a threat to Obama's 2012 re-election bid.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick)

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