Bad Jobs Report Just 60 Days before Election

The Labor Department released the latest jobs report and it showed a dismal picture just two months before the general election. The issue will test the patience of voters and will likely reflect in the results of the election. Republican candidate Mitt Romney said that President Obama’s convention party has given the nation a nasty hangover.

Employers added 96,000 jobs last month, which was not enough to significantly affect the unemployment rate. It was also not enough improve the economy. But the good news is that the unemployment rate slightly dropped from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent.

President Obama highlighted the trend that showed employers adding jobs for 30 straight months. He said he knew that it was not good enough and that his administration must create more jobs quicker. With just 60 days before the election, the economic report was not bad enough to change the scenario in a tightly fought race. But the report got so much attention that the Obama campaign is likely not to get any improvement on its standing after the Democratic National Convention.

It underscored the fact that Obama’s economic recovery plan was not quick enough. In the history of the nation, no president has ever won a re-election bid with an unemployment rate of over 8 percent since Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Obama used the comparison to show why he needs more time to improve the economy.

Now that both the Democratic and Republican conventions are over, Obama and Romney will now have to face each other with a series of debates. They also have to win the swing states to their respective sides.

Obama and Romney are heading towards the same direction Friday as they are scheduled to appear in Iowa and New Hampshire. The two states are small compared to others but they possess electoral votes that can decide who will be the next president.