The September employment report surprised Obama

The September employment report surprised Obama According to "USA Today": On Friday, the Labor Department's report showed that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped in September to January 2009...

The Labor Department's report said: 114,000 new jobs were added in September, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% from 8.1% in August. This is of great significance to Obama, who is struggling because of his defeat in the first national presidential televised debate.

More good news is that the previously announced employment data for July and August have been adjusted and have new increases. The 96,000 jobs announced last month in August have been revised to 142,000 jobs, and Obama can even boast of this.

Thea Lee, vice president of employment analysis agency AFL-CIO, said: "This month's employment report shows that the U.S. economy is finally seeing good momentum. The timing of this news couldn't be better for the president. People are returning to the labor market and employers have shown a certain degree of confidence."

The White House is cautious about new employment data.

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Krueger said: "Today's employment report provides further evidence: The United States' worst economic trauma since the Great Depression is continuing to heal. Although we still have more work to do, we will continue to promote economic policies that are suitable for the middle class. This is very important."

Conservatives immediately poured cold water on the optimistic report. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who performed well in the first debate, said in a statement: "There are fewer jobs in September than in August, and there are fewer jobs in August than in July. We have lost more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office. If all people who have withdrawn from the labor market are included, the actual unemployment rate will be close to 11%."

The latest numbers will appear on TV ads one after another. Obama can say that the private sector has posted 31 consecutive months of job growth and that the unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level since he entered the White House office in January 2009. Romney can say that there are still 12.1 million Americans who are still unemployed. Add in those who are partially unemployed or have stopped looking for work, and this number may triple.

Jobs data could dominate the presidential election at some point. The 7.5% unemployment rate frustrated Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H. Bush's campaign in 1992 were all affected by unemployment numbers.

Since Obama entered the White House office in his first month, his employment numbers have been terrible, hovering between 8.1% and 10%. He can say that the employment measures he instituted have been paying dividends - more than 5 million jobs have been created in the private sector.

Four days before the general election vote, Obama will have one last chance to see the unemployment rate below 8%. On November 2, the October employment rate and revised employment figures for the past few months will be announced. However, by then most voters have already made their choice in their minds based on their analysis of employment or economic conditions.

In fact, some economists and political analysts say voters are generally not swayed by jobs reports or statistics, but rather by how the economy affects their families. Jared Bernstein, a former economist adviser to Vice President Biden, said voters had already solidified their views in early summer.

Bernstein said the latest report provided revised summer employment data: the U.S. economy added an average of 67,000 jobs per month in the second quarter, but reached 146,000 jobs per month in the third quarter. This is very good for the current president: it shows that we are moving in the right direction.

This report was released less than 36 hours after Romney’s outstanding performance and Obama’s sluggish performance in the first presidential debate.

During that debate, Romney again pledged to create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. "My top priority is putting Americans to work," he said, later claiming in a new television ad Thursday that his new energy plan would create more than 3 million jobs and that his tax cuts, trade policies and on-the-job training would create an additional 7 million jobs.

Obama acknowledged during the debate that Americans are in a painful period, "but we have begun fighting to get back on the right path." During Thursday's campaign event, he vowed to create 1 million new manufacturing jobs and hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs.