Economy, Jobs Report | featured news

President Obama, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and their backers are stressing different aspects of today's jobs report -- the ones that bolster their respective campaigns.

... the last three months do suggest that the U.S. labor market is on an upward trajectory... whoever wins the presidential election next week will likely get to take credit for the recovery that’s now underway.

U.S. companies added 158,000 jobs in October, data from a payrolls processor showed on Thursday in a revamped report on the private sector labor market. The historical data for the ADP National Employment Report was revised as part of the new methodology, which was used for the first time in the October report. September's increase has halved to 88,200 new jobs from an initially reported 162,000.

Companies added 162,000 jobs in September, more than economists expected but still pointing to slow improvement in the labor market, data from a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

No question about it, Friday’s jobs report was a disappointment ... But beneath the dreary headline lay some encouraging signs: Demand for labor was relatively strong ... Jobs growth is broad-based ... Workers are re-entering the labor force ...

"[B]usinesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months," the president said, "including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. That’s a step in the right direction. That’s a step in the right direction. But we can’t be satisfied, because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back where we were back in 2007, and I want to get back to a time when middle-class families and those working to get to the middle class have some basic security. That’s our goal.”

Third straight month of weak hiring shows economy is struggling three years after recession ended. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. Click to Continue »

Republican presidential hopefuls are taking aim at President Obama for the latest dismal jobs report, saying he's to blame for the slow pace ...