The country showed a steady but modest increase in its job growth and this has caused some political challenges for both parties. Republican candidate Mitt Romney needs a weak economy so that he could be Mr. Fix-It who can save the nation’s financial health. President Barack Obama on the other hand needs to sustain the momentum to persuade voters that the economy is getting better. Presidential Campaigns

Last Friday, the recent jobs report was released and it showed that 120,000 jobs were added last month. That was half the pace for December to February and short of the 210,000 that was estimated by the economists. But the unemployment rate decreased from 8.3 percent in February to 8.2 percent. This is the lowest level it reached since Obama became president.

GOP leaders noted that the rate decreased because more Americans stopped hunting for jobs and were not part of the government survey. The jobs scenario was bleaker when Romney started his presidential bid a year ago. He focused on his experience in turning the Olympic Games into a success and reorganizing companies while he was still part of Bain Capital. As Massachusetts governor, he said that jobs grew in the state but it was noted that other states had more strong growth during the same period.

Romney’s camp bets on his ability to convince voters that the current trend in the jobs rate is unacceptable and he can speed up the growth pace. Romney described the jobs report as weak and very troubling.

Obama was proud of his accomplishments. He said that the economy has created more than 4 million private sector jobs over the past two years. More than 600,000 jobs were generated in the past three months. Democrats are optimistic with the historical fact that presidents tend to win their re-election bids if the economy is improving during their fourth year in office.