It's the first Friday of the month, which always means jobs numbers - even in the wake of superstorm Sandy. This month's official Federal jobs report may be even more important because it's the last one before the election - and it was great for President Obama.
- American employers added 171,000 jobs in October -- the best month for the private sector since February.
- The Unemployment Rate ticked up slightly to 7.9%. - but that was actually good news, because more Americans are trying to get back into the workforce.
- Jobs numbers from both July and August were also revised upward.
Overall, October was the thirty-second month in a row of positive job growth under President Obama.
As Brad Plumer of the Washington Post's Wonkblog made clear, the economy is doing much better than we thought it was - and it's been doing better for several months already. Steve Benen drove that point home with his private sector jobs chart, showing monthly job losses/gains in just the private sector since the start of the Bush Recession.
In short, the recovery is underway, thanks to the policies and leadership of President Barack Obama.
