[**UPDATE: ROMNEY RESPONDS**] – Unemployment rate drops to 7.8%, job growth still very weak

***UPDATE: Romney responds to job report: “this is not what a real recovery looks like”:

“This is not what a real recovery looks like. We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office. If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11%. The results of President Obama’s failed policies are staggering – 23 million Americans struggling for work, nearly one in six living in poverty and 47 million people dependent on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. The choice in this election is clear. Under President Obama, we’ll get another four years like the last four years. If I’m elected, we will have a real recovery with pro-growth policies that will create 12 million new jobs and rising incomes for everyone.”

***

Today’s report is a little confusing because the unemployment rate drops from 8.1% to 7.8% while job growth is only a little better than it was last month:

FOX NEWS – The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years. The rate declined because more people found work, a trend that could have an impact on undecided voters in the final month before the presidential election.

The Labor Department said Friday that employers added 114,000 jobs in September. The economy also created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated. Wages rose in September and more people started looking for work.

The revisions show employers added 146,000 jobs per month from July through September, up from 67,000 in the previous three months. The unemployment rate fell from 8.1 percent in August, matching its level in January 2009 when President Obama took office.

Oh look, they found 86k more jobs for July and August. Here’s the actual revisions according to Market Watch:

The number of new jobs created in August was revised up to 142,000 from an original estimate of 96,000.

July’s figure was revised up to 181,000 from 141,000.

Those are big jumps in job creation if you ask me. If true, doesn’t it make the current 114k job creation for September look a lot worse?

Here’s more info from Market Watch:

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected a 110,000 increase in jobs last month, based on the Labor Department’s survey of businesses. Hiring in September was largely in line with Wall Street expectations.

Yet the jobless rate, which is drawn from a separate survey of households, fell sharply after the biggest increase in employment in that report since 1983. Some 873,000 people in the household survey said they found jobs. …

The household survey, however, is generally viewed as more erratic than the so-called establishment survey on a monthly basis, economists caution.

The other thing that is notable is that the U6 number (the all encompassing unfiltered number) for unemployment stayed exactly the same according to Jim Pethokoukis:

So the normal measure of unemployment takes a sharp dive that is sure to help Obama, yet the U6 number doesn’t budge. I see.

If you want more info, Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air seeks to explain today’s confusing jobs numbers as well. I’ll also try and post Rush Limbaugh’s analysis later on today.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.