Jay LaPrete/AP Photo; Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

SPARKS, Nev. - Mitt Romney said today's jobs report is "good news," but said President Obama has not helped to fix the economy.

"This recovery has been slower than it should have been, people have been suffering for longer than they should have had to suffer. Will it get better? I think it'll get better. I don't know how long it's going to take,"  Romney said during a business roundtable held at the Western Nevada Supply Company outside Reno.

"We got good news this morning on job creation in January. I hope that continues, we get people back to work," he said, speaking at the roundtable that included 14 local business leaders, all of whom were men. The participants in the roundtable shared their stories of being effected by the downturn in the economy.

A campaign aide later told ABC News that female business owners were invited to attend the roundtable but were unable to.

"That is the antidote, by the way, to falling home prices, is people going back to work, being able to buy homes," he said. "It's the antidote to what's going on right here in this supply business. If people have more jobs and can go to work, why, they're able to buy more things buy a home or remodel their home, put people back to work. That is going to happen."

"But this president has not helped the process. He's hurt it," said Romney. "Sometimes I got the impression that speaking to you that you don't think you have a friend in Washington. And I can assure you that if I'm the president, I will see what you do as being a very good thing. A patriotic and good thing, which is employ people and putting them to work."