Mitt Romney used the latest jobs figures to criticize President Barack Obama’s management of the economy ahead of a campaign appearance today in Pennsylvania.

“This is way, way, way off from what should happen in a normal recovery,” Romney said during a Fox News interview.

“It’s a terrible and very disappointing report this morning,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said. “We seem to be slowing down, not speeding up.”

Employers in the U.S. added fewer workers than forecast in April and the jobless rate unexpectedly declined as people left the labor force, underscoring concern that the world’s largest economy may be losing speed.

Payrolls climbed 115,000, the smallest gain in six months, after a revised 154,000 rise in March that was greater than initially estimated, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The median estimate of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 160,000 advance. The jobless rate fell to a three-year low of 8.1 percent.

Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said private payroll growth shows the economy is on the mend.

More needs to be done, he said in a statement, and Obama will keep pressing Congress to pass the components of the jobs proposal that he laid out last year and which have been rejected by Republicans.

‘Headwinds’ for Growth

“Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, the economy has added private sector jobs for 26 straight months, for a total of 4.25 million payroll jobs over that period,” Krueger said.

“This is not progress,” Romney said. “It’s a terrible record, and it shows that the president’s policies have simply not worked. It’s taken far too long for our economy to recover.”

Romney said Americans “know that their lives are not better than they were three and a half years ago” and that this is the “longest period of high unemployment that we’ve seen since we started collecting these records back in 1948.”

In an opinion article in today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, Romney welcomed Obama to Ohio ahead of the president’s planned campaign visit to the state tomorrow.

‘Hollow’ Promises

“Mr. President, your promises now ring hollow,” Romney wrote. “If you have brought new ideas to Ohio for creating jobs, why have you waited three years to unveil them? Have you suddenly had a revelation, or is it because 2012 is an election year? Whatever the case, what you are offering Ohio now is too little, too late.”

Romney also questioned Obama’s credentials for trying to fix the economy.

“Mr. President, forgive me for being blunt, but when it comes to economic affairs, you’re out of your depth,” he wrote. “I’ve learned a thing or two about how government policies can kill private investment and stifle job creation and I have a plan to get government out of the way.”

Romney was scheduled to attend a campaign event later today in Pittsburgh after meeting privately with former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum ended his Republican presidential primary campaign on April 10 and hasn’t yet formally endorsed Romney.

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Pittsburgh at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeanne Cummings at jcummings21@bloomberg.net