The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, representing the lowest such figure since President Obama took office, delivering the Democrat a badly needed economic boost one month before the election.
According to the Labor Department, employers added 114,000 jobs in September, causing the unemployment to drop significantly from 8.1 percent in August. The unemployment rate has not been this low since January 2009, the first month of Obama’s presidency.
Obama will tout the positive jobs report on the campaign trail in Virginia and Ohio today, as he seeks to convince Americans of economic progress under his watch. A centerpiece of Mitt Romney’s argument against the president was that unemployment hovered above 8 percent throughout Obama’s first term.
The question is whether such a trend resonates with an American public wary of the current state of the economy. Obama will look to take the attention off his dismal debate performance Wednesday and refocus the political discussion on this new snapshot of the U.S. economy.
