Strong jobs report boosts Obama

6 Oct 2012, 4:18 pm   -   Source: AAP
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US President Barack Obama has received a boost from a report showing unemployment at 7.7 per cent. (AAP)

US President Barack Obama has received a boost from a report showing unemployment at 7.7 per cent. (AAP)

US President Barack Obama has received a boost from a report showing joblessness at 7.7 per cent after a lacklustre debate against rival Mitt Romney.

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A strong US jobs report has given President Barack Obama an upbeat end to a startling week for both campaigns, while Republican challenger Mitt Romney finally addressed his secretly taped disparaging remarks about the 47 per cent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes, calling his words "just completely wrong".

The government's new jobs report on Friday showed the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent last month, dropping below 8 per cent for the first time in nearly four years. It's now at the level it was when Obama took office. Unemployment had been at 8.1 per cent before Friday's report, and economists had expected the number to edge up instead. Wall Street jumped to its highest level in nearly five years

"Today, I believe that as a nation we are moving forward again," Obama told a rally in Virginia hours after the report.

The report broke an important psychological barrier before the November 6 election. No president has been re-elected with unemployment above 8 per cent since the Great Depression.

The report also had the potential to swing momentum back to Obama after he suffered through a weak first debate against Romney on Wednesday night.

Romney said shortly after the jobs report that 7.8 per cent unemployment "is not what a real recovery looks like".

Obama, speaking at the Virginia rally, acknowledged that more work needs to be done but added, "Today's news certainly is not an excuse to talk down the economy to score a few political points. ... This country has come too far to turn back now."

The final monthly jobs report before the election will come just days before November 6.

The surprising report so soon before the election brought scepticism from some - "can't debate so change numbers", former General Electric CEO Jack Welch tweeted - and Labour Secretary Hilda Solis found herself defending her work from suspicions that the Obama administration might have skewed the jobs numbers.

"I'm insulted when I hear that because we have a very professional civil service," Solis told CNBC.

The new report quickly overran Romney's comments on his remarks about the "47 per cent". Romney's campaign had been hit hard by the secretly taped remarks that emerged last month, in which he said he couldn't convince nearly half the country to "take personal responsibility" for their lives. He slipped behind Obama in some of the key battleground states that will decide the election as people again worried that the multimillionaire Romney was out of touch with average Americans.

But Romney's assertive debate performance against a tired-seeming Obama rallied Republicans again to his side.

Obama notably did not mention Romney's "47 per cent" comment during the debate, but Romney brought it up in a Fox News interview on Thursday night, after a day of rallying conservative activists with his vision of his own inauguration.

He told Fox that the remarks, which he had once dismissed as "not elegantly stated", were wrong.

"Well, clearly in a campaign, with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right," Romney said. "In this case, I said something that's just completely wrong."

He added: "And I absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that I care about 100 per cent and that's been demonstrated throughout my life. And this whole campaign is about the 100 per cent."

Widespread anger over Romney's remarks had helped to give Obama a bit of a lift in key polls, and many wondered why the president didn't use them to fight back in Wednesday's debate, which most people agreed the newly energised Romney won.

Obama's campaign on Thursday promised "adjustments" would be made before the two debates that remain. And Obama woke up during campaign appearances on Thursday to make a rebuttal, accusing Romney of being dishonest about how his policies would affect the tax bills of middle-class families.

Both campaigns faced a potential turning point with the release of Friday's jobs report.

Romney has been trying to cast Obama as ineffective in job creation.

Last month's weak hiring numbers came out just a day after Obama delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. They didn't appear to interfere with Obama's post-convention bounce in public opinion polls or with perceptions that he would be as good as Romney at creating jobs.

The unemployment rate had been fluctuating between 8.1 per cent and 8.3 per cent since January after being stuck at between 8.9 per cent and 9.1 per cent for 10 months in 2011.

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll found that the vast majority of voters already have settled on a candidate, but 17 per cent of likely voters are considered persuadable - either because they are undecided or show soft support for Obama or Romney.

Their next debate is on October 16.

Obama and Romney both planned events in Virginia on Friday, reflecting the hotly contested race for the state's 13 electoral votes. The election is decided in state-by-state contests and not by nationwide popular vote.

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