Romney: July jobs report is a 'hammer blow'

Mitt Romney said today the uptick in the nation's jobless rate is a "hammer blow" to the middle class.

The U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs in July, according to a government report released today, but the unemployment rate rose to 8.3%.

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In remarks at a Las Vegas campaign event, Romney used the July unemployment report as a way to criticize President Obama's handling of the economy and pledged he would create 12 million jobs. He said the numbers reflected in the jobs report "are not just statistics. These are real people."

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee derided his opponent for not understanding how the private sector works, and again mocked Obama's suggestion that small businesses need the government's help to succeed.

"This is an extraordinary record of failure," Romney said. "The president's policies are not working because he thinks government makes America work. He is wrong."