Growth or 'standstill'? Monthly jobs report gives mixed picture ahead of election
The final monthly jobs report before Election Day offered a mixed bag of economic evidence that would surely become political putty for the presidential candidates, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 7.9 percent but the economy adding a better-than-expected 171,000 jobs.
At the same time, the number of unemployed grew by 170,000, roughly the same amount -- to 12.3 million.
The October numbers allow President Obama to argue the economy is technically growing under his watch. But they also allow Mitt Romney to argue that the new jobs are not making much of a dent in the unemployment problem. Both campaigns quickly set to work putting their spin on data that, if nothing else, underscores the slow pace of the recovery.
And 25 million in the under-employed or unemployed ranks. Plus 47 million still on foodstamps. But Yahoo was trying to spin it as good news, sounds like more of the same to me. ObamaStagNation.
And not enough jobs once again, need 250K just to keep pace.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
