Capping off a dismal week in economic news, the Labor Department reported Friday that the pace of hiring slowed dramatically in May and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent -- fueling Republican demands that the Obama administration change direction on its economic policy.

Employers hired just 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months. The numbers follow a string of other reports showing a slowdown in manufacturing and deepening slump in the housing market. The trendlines come at a bad time for President Obama, as the official field of 2012 Republican presidential candidates starts to take shape; the candidates are eager to make the economy a central plank in their campaigns.

"President Obama's policies made the recession worse and as a result more people are out of work," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who announced his jobs-centered White House bid Thursday, said after the report was released...