WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says a new jobs report shows the U.S. economy is healing, but warns Congress not to inflict wounds with looming spending cuts.

Alan Krueger is chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. He says the country continues to dig itself out of recession. The government reported Friday that employers added 157, 000 jobs in January, and that hiring was stronger at the end of 2012, though the January unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent.

Krueger says Congress should avoid automatic, across-the-board spending cuts scheduled for March 1 and replace them with cuts and new tax revenue. But Republicans say that after letting tax rates rise for the wealthiest Americans, they are not willing to raise more taxes.