New job date gives Obama hopeful sign

CCTV.com

U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October, creating more than 170-thousands jobs according to the latest data released by the Labor Department. And there was only a small increase in the jobless rate due to more workers restarting their job hunts. The data is seen as a hopeful sign for a lackluster US economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama’s re-election bid. With the economy at the center of the campaign, the latest jobs figures were crucial for many who were still undecided. On Friday, the US Labor Department announced that the US added 171,000 jobs in October. The jobless rate at one time had peaked at 10 percent. Now it has edged up a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent, though that was due to workers surging back into the labor force, as only people who are looking for a job count as unemployed. The employment data issued on Friday is considered as the last major report card on the economy before Tuesday’s presidential election. Polls show US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney locked in a dead heat in a race that has centered on one major issue, job creation. President Obama said the report showed the US economy was moving in the right direction. Calling it "real progress", he talked to a rally in Hilliard, Ohio during the final days of his presidential campaign. Barack Obama, US President, said, "In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. And today our businesses have created nearly five and a half million new jobs and this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in October than at any time in the last eight months." However, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says the slight increase in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent shows the economy continues to struggle. He argues that Obama’s policies have crushed the American economy and that the nation could have done better. Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, said, "Four years ago candidate Obama promised to do so very much but he’s fallen so very short. He said he was going to lower the unemployment rate down to 5.2 percent right now. Today we learned that it’s actually 7.9 percent and that’s nine million jobs short of what he promised. Unemployment is higher today than when Barack Obama took office. " Romney made the comments in a statement while campaigning in Wisconsin, one of the key battleground states. But some argue that the impact of the report on the Nov. 6 election could be muted as most voters’ perceptions on the economy are likely mostly fixed by now. With the stepped-up pace of job creation, the U.S. economy is still facing the real threat of a renewed recession probably next year. In front of the next US president, there is still a long way to go before a booming economy returns.