Statement from Bart van Ark, Chief Economist of The Conference Board on Friday’s Jobs Report from The U.S. Labor Department:

The modest gain in private sector jobs confirms that the economy remains on a slow growth path, and it’s going to be a long haul to rev up the jobs machine. The current pace of employment is too slow to replace the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession - not in the next year or two, perhaps even not in the next five years. Service industries are picking up very slowly and it’s unlikely that industries such as construction and manufacturing will ever return to pre-recession employment levels.