WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called a disappointing U.S. jobs report for May "devastating news" on Friday and a sign that President Barack Obama's economic policies have failed.

Romney moved quickly to take political advantage of the Labor Department's report that U.S. 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.

"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.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle)