Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is giving President Barack Obama "an F, across the board" for his handling of the economy.

Romney called a disappointing jobs report for May "devastating news" on and a sign that Obama's economic policies have failed, Reuters reported.

Romney moved quickly to take political advantage of the Labor Department's report that unemployment had moved up slightly to 8.2 percent in May from 8.1 percent, with the economy adding only 69,000 jobs for the month, far fewer than anticipated.

Editor's Note: You Deserve to Know What Obama and Bernanke Are Hiding From Americans

"Today's weak jobs report is devastating news for American workers and American families," he said in a statement.

He called the May report "a harsh indictment of the President's handling of the economy."

"It is now clear to everyone that President Obama's policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America's middle class. The president's re-election slogan may be ‘forward,' but it seems like we've been moving backward," he said.

In an interview broadcast Friday, Romney tells CBS News that Obama lacks a "fundamental understanding" of how the free enterprise system works, the Associated Press reported.

The former Massachusetts governor says capitalism "is the only system that's ever been shown to lift people out of poverty."

Yet, he argues that Obama believes "the way to do that is to have the government make investments and have the government choose the winners and losers."

He credits Obama for taking down terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in the interview but says the president gets a failing grade on foreign affairs.

Romney complains that, quote, "the Arab spring has become the Arab winter" under Obama's watch, the AP reported.

Editor's Note: You Deserve to Know What Obama and Bernanke Are Hiding From Americans