WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Private employers have added jobs for 28 straight months, proving the resilience of the U.S. economy despite ill-conceived efforts by conservatives in Congress to enforce austerity measures that would surely strangle economic growth. The share of the U.S. population with a job held steady in June as private-sector employers added 84,000 people to their payrolls. Government continued to shed workers, but the pace has slowed considerably, with only 4,000 losing their jobs in June.

Look no further than the Republican leadership in Congress for the reasons for today’s disappointing jobs numbers. In January 2011, as the 112th Congress came into power, the Republican leadership said they had one goal — keep President Barack Obama from getting re-elected. Even then, the consensus was that the big election story would be the economy and jobs. If the economy were performing well, the incumbent’s chances of re-election would be pretty good. In service of their goal, conservative leaders in Congress have focused on imposing austerity on the U.S. economy and refusing to implement policies that create jobs.

This is shameful.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio said that the new jobs data indicate the failure of the Obama administration’s policies. But data actually tell a very different story: Where the administration acted, jobs came back. In June of 2009, President Obama rescued the auto industry. Last month, the motor vehicles and parts industry added 6,700 jobs, for a total of 150,000 since June 2009. The pace of job creation in automobile manufacturing has been faster than any time since the late 1990s. Overall, manufacturing added 11,000 jobs in June, for a total of 154,000 so far in 2012, even though the manufacturing sector activity index declined in June, for the first time in three years.

Typically in a deep recession, like the one we lived through in 2008 and 2009, the government steps in to boost spending and get people back to work. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 did just that — and we can see the spikes in employment as those dollars flowed through the economy. Heavy and civil construction — bridges and roads — saw a spike in employment in early 2010 as projects got started. Yet in June this sector shed 2,000 jobs, on top of 12,000 jobs shed in May, because Congress has refused to use this moment, when financing costs are low and unemployment is high, to continue to invest in much-needed infrastructure. This missed opportunity not only hurts us now, but is day-by-day reducing future productivity.

Similarly, over the past year, local governments have shed over 100,000 educators. It is not only bad for the economy now to add teachers to the unemployment rolls, but doing so undermines our economic future as well. Only a well-educated labor force will provide America the productivity gains we need to see in future years.

The number of temporary-help workers rose in June, which often is a leading indicator of stronger permanent hiring.

There are a number of indicators in today’s data that point to a tightening labor market: hours, wages, and temporary help. Hours edged up by 0.1 hour per week among all workers as well as among manufacturing workers, and manufacturing overtime has held at 3.3 hours per week for five months. The annualized quarterly wage increase was 2.1% in June. This is faster than the cost of living as measured by the consumer price index, which has been slowing in the past few months and increased only 1.7% over the past year. Employment in the temporary-help sector, often a harbinger of employment to come, rose by 25,200 in June, for a total of 137,300 new jobs in 2012.

However, the share of the U.S. population with a job continues to hover at near-recession lows, as only 58.6% of people reported having a job, just above the most recent low of 58.2% a year ago. The share of adult men (age 20 and over) with a job was 67.4%, down from 67.7% in the first quarter. Among adult women, the share with a job was 55% percent in June, about where it has been for all of 2012.

It remains the case that four out of 10 of those who are out of work and actively seeking employment have been doing so for at least six months. The number of those out of work for five weeks or less rose in June. The chances of finding work among the unemployed remains tough, as there are nearly four workers seeking a job for every actual job opening. Even with elevated unemployment, only about half of all workers receive unemployment benefits and nearly half of these workers will see all their benefits expire in December if Congress refuses to extend the program for the long-term unemployed.

June jobs report weaker than expected

Young workers, immigrants, and workers of color continue to suffer hardest from the recession. Among teen workers, the share unemployed remained a whopping 23.7% in June, while among African Americans, the unemployment rate rose 0.8 of a percent to 14.4%.

Looking ahead to 2013, the worst-case scenario for the U.S. economy would be implementing the kinds of budget cuts that the Republican candidate for president, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, has been calling for, which would reduce job creation by about 1.3 million in 2013 and would most certainly be devastating for middle-class families. A presidency modeled after Gov. Romney’s experience at Bain Capital — with an economy reliant on debt and outsourcing to boost short-term profits at the expense of jobs and long-term growth — would do nothing to promote the kind of job creation American families want — and need — to see.

The way forward on job creation is to focus on making the kinds of investments that get people back to work, strengthen the middle class, and pave the way for long-term growth. Last week’s passage by Congress of a new transportation bill was welcome news because letting it lapse would have led to an estimated 3 million lost jobs, but it was also a missed opportunity to ramp up investments in needed infrastructure.

We cannot control whether Europe’s economy spirals back into recession, but we know what will work to keep ours on the right track: Putting more funds toward the kinds of infrastructure projects that can get people back to work now and lay the foundation for long-term growth.