By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S.
unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8
percent for the first time in nearly four years and giving President
Barack Obama a potential boost with the election a month away.
The rate declined from 8.1
percent because the number of people who said they were employed soared
by 873,000 - an encouraging sign for an economy that's been struggling
to create enough jobs.
The number of unemployed Americans is now 12.1 million, the fewest since January 2009.
The Labor Department said
employers added 114,000 jobs in September. It also said the economy
created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than the department had
initially 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 7.8 percent unemployment
rate for September matches the rate in January 2009, when Obama took
office. In the months after Obama's inauguration, the rate rose sharply
and had topped 8 percent for 43 straight months.
The decline in the unemployment
rate comes at a critical moment for Obama, who is coming off a weak
debate performance this week against GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
The September employment report
may be the last that might sway undecided voters. The October jobs
report will be released only four days before Election Day.
Romney released a statement that
focused on the job figures, which declined in September from August. He
also noted that manufacturing has lost 600,000 jobs since Obama took
office.
"This is not what a real recovery looks like," Romney said in a statement.
But Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the report signals improvement.
"An overall better-than-expected
jobs report, consistent with most recent data that suggest the economy
is gaining some momentum," Guatieri said in a note to clients. "The
sizeable drop in the unemployment rate could lift the president's
re-election chances following a post-debate dip."
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was
asked on CNBC about suspicions that the Obama administration might have
skewed the jobs numbers to aid Obama's re-election prospects.
"I'm insulted when I hear that
because we have a very professional civil service," Solis said. "I have
the highest regard for our professionals that do the calculations at the
(Bureau of Labor Statistics). They are trained economists."
After the jobs report was
released, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 60 points in the first
hour of trading. Broader stock indexes also rose.
The yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury note climbed to 1.73 percent from 1.68 percent just before the
report. That suggested that investors were more willing to take on risk
and shift money from bonds into stocks.
The job market has been
improving, sluggishly but steadily. Jobs have been added for 24 straight
months. There are now 325,000 more than when Obama took office.
The number of employed Americans
comes from a government survey of 60,000 households that determines the
unemployment rate. The government asks a series of questions, by phone
or in person. For example:
Do you own a business? Did you
work for pay? If not, did you provide unpaid work for a family business
or farm? (Those who did are considered employed.)
Afterward, the survey
participants are asked whether they had a job and, if so, whether it was
full or part time. The government's definition of unemployed is someone
who's out of work and has actively looked for a job in the past four
weeks.
The government also does a
second survey of roughly 140,000 businesses to determine the number of
jobs businesses created or lost.
The September job gains were led
by the health care industry, which added 44,000 jobs - the most since
February. Transportation and warehousing also showed large gains.
The revisions also showed that
federal, state and local governments added 63,000 jobs in July and
August, compared with earlier estimates that showed losses.
Still, many of the jobs the
economy added last month were part time. The number of people with
part-time jobs who wanted full-time work rose 7.5 percent to 8.6
million, the most since February 2009.
But overall, Friday's report dispelled some fears about the job market.
The "U.S. could be growing jobs
at a marginally faster pace than feared mid-summer," Guy LeBas, a
strategist at Janney Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. "Even
with the issues in Europe and slowing production in China, U.S. economic
activity does not look to be bearing the brunt of global downside, at
least not anymore."
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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