Upstart Business Journal
Unemployment drops to lowest level since 2009
by Kent Bernhard, Jr , Money & Finance Editor
October 5, 2012 

The second-to-last monthly jobs report before the November elections contained a bit of good news for President Barack Obama—and the American economy—as employers added more jobs than expected and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since January 2009. 

The September unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, and employers added 114,000 jobs. That's better than last month's report, which showed just 96,000 jobs added in August. And, according to this morning's report, last month's numbers were much better than was originally reported. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised August's jobs growth to 142,000 jobs added, up from 96,000. 

That's not ideal for the president. Conventional wisdom holds that an unemployment rate above 7 percent creates a huge headwind for incumbents aiming for reelection. But there's still one more report to go before the election November 6 and the numbers today are a step in a sunnier direction. 

This morning's much-better-than-expected report prompted this comment from Steven Russolillo of the Wall Street Journal: 

Sure, the unemployment rate falling is a welcome sign. But the bigger jobs trend still hasn't changed. Overall job growth has averaged 143,000 a month in 2012, compared with 153,000 in 2011. Economists generally think about 200,000 jobs need to be created a month for the labor market to witness sustained growth. We're still not there yet, but hopefully this is a sign of better things to come. 

The unexpected drop in unemployment could mitigate Obama's iffy performance in the first debate with challenger Mitt Romney earlier this week, and the unemployment numbers could contribute to tightening a race that Obama has been ahead in for much of the past couple months. 

Read the rest of the articles at Upstart Business Journal