I think that the new jobless rate reflects the improvement in the economy. Manufacturing is increasing nationwide and businesses are experiencing more growth. President Obama's policies are working, despite strong resistance from his opponents. The recession of 2008 was much worse than most people realized and will take many years to overcome. We are on our way now!

I agree with Moe on this one. There are also many of the folks who used their allotted UE benefits and are no longer counted as unemployed. Very curious that this report comes out so close to the election. I hope people are not swayed by this.

I agree with Moe and Pat. Inaccurate data

I'm not going to say its inaccurate as much as it's misleading. Unemployment always falls at this time of year, as holiday help needs to be hired and trained. Macy's alone is hiring 80,000 that need to be in place in a month. They you have UPS, Fed Ex and all the other major retailers. So this news should not be unexpected or even be put to criticism. Americans know that there are jobs out there at this time, and they are going to get them! Republicans and Democrats should be happy at that news. But is this a trend that will crash hard in January and February, which is why Obama's supporters faith should be ummmmm...tempered!

Your just numb if you believe the jobless rate. You have taken the blue pill.

Presidents of any stripe can do very little about the jobless rate or, for that matter, the state of the economy. They are criticized for it when it is bad, and take credit for it when it is good. Nevertheless, their actions have nothing to do with it.

I will continue to support President Obama in his re-election efforts irrespective of the jobless rate, because, as Richard Dawkins commented, "Who 'won' the debate? Who had the best policies? Best zingers? The elephant in the room is that one candidate's beliefs are BARKING MAD ... Romney really IS Mormon in the full loony sense."

Whether the number is real or not is irrelevant to me. Either way, 7.8% is still terrible. This is an example of the administration setting the bar extremely low, and then boasting when they finally clear it. We deserve better.

President Obama stated that the jobless rate would decrease to 5.6% with his stimulus package....that never happened. And that was over 3 years ago. I too am very suspect of this report and the timing of it. The numbers just don't make sense. Do the math....The .03% drop means the number of unemployed people dropped by 456,000 when only 114k jobs were created Where did all these people go? Very skeptical.

I too don't believe these numbers. Yes it is the beginning of the holiday temporary work season but those jobs are just temorary. If there was only 114,000 new jobs added the rate would still be around 8% They are not counting some part of the unemployed. I read that only 63.6% of people polled for the report actually took part in the poll and that is the lowest number in years. These numbers will be revised about a week after the election. Go back and look at August's numbers and compare them to these. In August 134,00 jobs were added and the rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1% so how does it work out that ifyou add 20,000 less jobs the rate drops twice as much? You don't count all the people who left the work force or lost unemployment benifits.

It's unbelievably good news...and I mean that in the sense that it's not believable that just one month before the election, the rate drops to just below what it needs to for Obama to say, "I told you so!" Almost every economist and financial expert, including his financial czar who lowered the rates one more time two weeks ago, were predicting worse, not better news.

It is good news. A step in the right direction. Pundints now tell us Obama controls these numbers for his own benefit. Romney and Ryan have no interest in resolution - borrowing a line from "The American President" - they have no desire to solve problems. They want to make you afraid of it and then tell you who to blame. We have seen true colors - have you seen Romney sneeking unallowed notes onto his podium? Have you read the independent reviews whose fact checkers found 53 errors in his comments? This is sad. Abandon the dark side and come into the light and become a part of the discussion and not the baseless accusations. Remember - hope is the gift we give ourselves.

I believe this is incorrect, the reason I believe this is because I have not worked for a year, I did not collect unemployment, did not collect food stamps and I am not on welfare, so how would anyone know I am not working? It is probably the same for people who have run out of unemployment and couldn't find a job, or homeless people, they are just not counted! People are kidding themselves, if something doesn't change this country is in big trouble...

This jobs report has not influenced me one bit. During the debate, Romney Flip-Flop was not telling us what he will do when he is in office. Romney Flip-Flop was just telling us what we want to hear to get elected and it appears lied as well.
I don’t like the voucher plan he has planned for Medicare. I also want to know if Romney Flip-Flop took part in the 2009 international tax cheaters amnesty program. The Romney Ryan presidency will not be good for this country or women.
I have a problem with the positions of both candidates but I believe that Obama is a good man and wants to do right by this country. Hopefully this next presidency will work together. I vote for my best interests, human rights, freedom of choice, and the 47%.

Nothing a president can do can effect the unemployment rate over the short term. When Obama took office, the future course of the economy was on an inexorable path for the next few years. It was set on that course by fighting two wars without paying for them except for the money which could be saved by cutting back on government expenditures such as enforcement of financial regulations.

DON'T DRINK THE "KOOL AID!" These numbers are a sham!!! Many people have given up looking for work. Many people are under the radar as unemployed. WAKE UP!

I've heard several different people, government and independent people, interviewed who explained how these numbers are calculated each month. It is a rather involved process. Two different departments and lots of different people involved; the recurring statements are that too many people are involved for manipulation of the numbers to occur and that political appointees are not involved in generating this number. Jack Welch admitted he has no evidence to support his tweet. My thought is that, given the number of people involved in generating this number, someone would have blown the whistle, by now, if the fix was in. I've heard more than one person interviewed who said is that the unemployment rate (the %) should be routinely ignored and people should pay attention to the number of jobs added or lost instead.
And given what Ed Bertorelli pointed out about comments in these posts in another thread yesterday, I'll be ignoring any responses that are insulting, offensive or otherwise abrasive. Thanks for making that point, Ed.

I've asked the following question before but no one seems to have an answer. Romney has said he wants to increase defense spending by $2 trillion. The Pentagon has not asked for this money. What is Romney going to do with $2 trillion more in defense spending if the Pentagon has not imagined a use for the money? And importantly, where is the $2 trillion going to come from?
And given what Ed Bertorelli pointed out about comments in these posts in another thread yesterday, I'll be ignoring any responses that are insulting, offensive or otherwise abrasive. Thanks for making that point, Ed.

Keith Hall, former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said this about the unemployment numbers being manipulated:

“I understand people’s frustrations and suspicion when the unemployment goes down, you know right before an election. But in reality all the federal statistical agencies, including the Bureau of Labor of Statistics, they’re independent agencies. They have a long tradition of being very professional and very nonpolitical and it would be very, very difficult to rig these numbers even if you wanted too. And it would be extremely risky to get caught trying to do that. So, there’s a long, long history of these agencies being independent and doing their best to estimate these numbers, and to my knowledge there’s never been an issue with any of these agencies changing the numbers for political reasons.”
"I don’t think there’s any way this could happen. There’s certainly a zero chance that this could happen and somebody could get away with it. I can tell you the Bureau Labor of Statistics is a very independent professional organization and that would never happen.”

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/05/cnns-gut-check-for-october-5-2012-2/?iref=allsearch

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, whose tweet about the Chicago guys changing the unemployment numbers started an uproar, told Anderson Cooper late Friday:

“I should have put a question mark on the end of that, let’s face it.”

“I said something that's just completely wrong,"

Romney told Sean Hannity on Fox News concerning a video taped comment where he said:

“All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82096.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57526535/romney-47-percent-remarks-completely-wrong/

Interesting column in todays Huffington Post in the Politics Blog section by left-leaning former NYTimes, African- American, columnist Bob Herbert- "No More Excuses". The lead off line being 'it is time to stop making excuses for Barak Obama'.The column continues to outline a string of failures and absence of leadership. Maybe the Clint Eastwood routine was more telling than the media thought at the time.

Monthly job reports are almost always revised in the months after they are released. This is a routine occurrence regardless of time of year, election cycle or who occupies the White House. Revising the numbers - up or down -- is part of the process.

“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for JULY was revised from
+141,000 to +181,000, and the change for AUGUST was revised from +96,000 to
+142,000.” http://bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

And unless retail begins their hiring for the Christmas season in July & August...
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Layoffs are accounted for in the BLS process. One can go to their site and read the process. It's pretty complicated and it ends up with a total number of jobs added or jobs lost. They report "the CHANGE...in employment" plus or minus.
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Last night, Piers Morgan asked John McCain if he would kill Big Bird. McCain, who generally opposes Congressional earmarks, said he could probably find an earmark to save Big Bird.
Will Roms now say that he was "just completely wrong" to say he would kill Big Bird?
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I don't usually respond to posts that diverge from reality ("If I were a member of any of those families who were tortured, raped...") TORTURED? RAPED?

However, I can't resist this:
Why do you now disagree with your man Romney?
He told Hannity on Fox News, “I said something that's just completely wrong" about the 47%.
You say, "IT'S TRUE!!!!"
Does Roms know you say "IT'S TRUE!!!!?"

Over 8% or 7.8%, it DOESN'T matter! Either one is awful. The administration is trying to skate on the economy by setting the bar as low as possible. This is the equivalent of praising your kid for getting four Fs and a D- on his report card, because last time out he had five Fs. It still is abysmal and we deserve better.

The jobless rate is not the issue. The issues is Obama's plan to turn this country is a socialist country. He is a very dangerous person.

What we have here is clearly a failed POTUS! To say anything other than that, is not reality. Think about that as your fill your car up at the gas pump. Obama did not even do 1/10th of what he said he would! Gasoline has doubled and food prices have escalated and he added 6 trillion dollars to the deficit. The moral of this story is, NEVER make a “Community Organizer”, your president. We need a business man who has created jobs, like Romney. We can’t allow a failed POTUS a second term.

Start at the Wendy's westbound on Rt 9 and drive to the 126 turn around. Then drive back and count how many small businesses are out of business. Don't even count the ones in the Natick Mall. Then come back to me with the answer and tell me how Obama is stimulating the growth of small business in this country!

The data is as false as Obama's birth certificate. And anyone who believes it has over dosed on the Kool aid .

Adding Government jobs does nothing to boost the economy...sure, these people get back to work, but the deficit increases.

Private sector jobs!!!!

Its the Economy, stupid!!!

Many smaller retail businesses have moved to the internet. The rent is cheaper; open 24 hours a day; not limited to local foot/road traffic; not effected by inclement weather; lower inventory costs, etc. If one were to wander around eBay one might notice it has moved well beyond its original auction focus to hosting space for 'mom & pop' retailers. Many brick & mortar bookstores have closed because selling books on line is cheaper. Amazon.com makes it very easy to buy books, tapes and a great many other things. When searching for a specific publication, Amazon lists many other sellers such as used or rare book stores -- both virtual and physical --from which one can order a book. The internet changed the nature of 'mom & pop' retailing.

Jeb Bush would have made a fine, respectable, creditable Republican candidate for president who no one would have to humanize nor would he have to be saying to Hannity "I was completely wrong". Now the only possible national political fate Jeb has left is to be crushed by Hillary in 2016.

Victoria Kennedy would have been a fine choice for Senate. Too bad she has no desire!