romney
Romney REUTERS

Mitt Romney on Friday assailed President Barack Obama for a terrible and very disappointing April jobs report that showed a fewer-than-expected 115,000 jobs added during the month.

Appearing on Fox & Friends soon after the job report's release, the de facto GOP presidential nominee said a normal recovery would have seen 500,000 jobs created last month.

This is way, way, way off from what should happen in a normal recovery, Romney said. It's a terrible and very disappointing report this morning. Clearly, the American people are wondering why this recovery isn't happening faster.

Recent jobs reports have fallen below expectations following a robust period earlier this year when 200,000 jobs were added each month. With the April report following weak March numbers, Republicans are shifting their focus to make the economy a major plank in the fall presidential campaign.

Although the unemployment rate trickled down to 8.1 percent last month, Romney credited that to people bailing out of the labor force.

I think the American people know that their lives are not better than they were three and a half years ago, Romney said. They know that the president, in his first months in office, said that he would hold unemployment below 8 percent and we've had 38 straight months of unemployment above 8 percent.