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WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden predicted on Friday the U.S. economy would create 100,000 to 200,000 jobs next month, with a rise to 250,000 to 500,000 jobs per month soon afterward, according to a press pool report.

“We caught a lot of bad breaks on the way down. We’re going to catch a few good breaks because of good planning on the way up,” Biden told a political fundraiser in Pittsburgh, the pool report said, as he hailed the Obama administration’s recovery efforts.

President Barack Obama has insisted that boosting jobs is his top domestic priority, mindful that persistently high unemployment could mean heavy losses for his Democrats in November’s congressional elections.

U.S. employers created 162,000 jobs in March, the fastest rate in three years and widely seen as another sign the recovery from deep recession was moving onto solid footing.

But the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent, the Labor Department said.

“All in all, we’re going to be creating somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs next month, I predict,” Biden was quoted as saying, while acknowledging he “got in trouble” for a job growth prediction in March.

“Even some in the White House said ‘Hey, don’t get ahead of yourself.’ Well I’m here to tell you some time in the next couple of months we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.” (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by John O’Callaghan)