|
 |
Upstart Business Journal…
Jobs rise, but
so does unemployment rate
by Kent Bernhard, Jr.
November 2, 2012
Unemployment numbers released this morning gave both President Barack
Obama and his rival, Mitt Romney, ammunition for the final weekend of
the campaign. Employers added 171,000 jobs in October, a
better-than-expected number from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate, though, ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8
percent, after a 0.3 percent drop in the previous month. Economists had
expected the United States to add 125,000 jobs, and for the
unemployment rate to come in at 7.9 percent.
The report, despite the jump in jobs, will no doubt add fuel to
Romney's argument that the economy is treading water and it's time to
elect a former private equity baron to fix it.
Obama, meanwhile, can point to job growth—all of which came from the
private sector—as evidence that he has overseen a slow but steady
recovery from the economic shambles he inherited from President George
W. Bush.
But should anyone pay attention to their arguments? No, argues one
expert.
Robert Reich, who was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton,
argues in Business Insider that the numbers released this morning are
an unreliable gauge of the economy's health…
Read the rest of the article at Upstart Business Journal
|
|
|
|
