More Blacks Found Jobs in September

More people are working and that is reflected in the most recent unemployment numbers released by the Labor Department Friday morning. African-Americans had reason to cheer as their unemployment rate fell to 13.4 percent, down from 14.1 percent in August. Though still extremely high, African-American teen joblessness dropped slightly from 37.9 to 36.7 percent.

The national jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8.1 the previous month.

The unemployment rate is at a 44-month low, and is now the same as when President Obama took office in 2009. This drop could give the president a boost after his disappointing debate performance against Mitt Romney.

Employers added 114,000 jobs. Economists had estimated that about 115,000 jobs were added, which is higher than August's 96,000, but lower than the monthly average so far for this year and in 2011, at 139,000 and 153,000, respectively.

The health-care sector added 44,000 jobs in September, and over the past year employment in health care has risen by 295,000.

The September jobs report impacts the employment prospects of Obama, as well as millions of struggling Americans. Romney's team may not actually hope for a bad report, but it does give them another opportunity to hammer home their message that Obama is ill-equipped to restore the health of the economy. And if little changes in October, they'll be able to spin and repeat the message again next month, mere days before most voters head to the polls.

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(Photo: AP Photo/John Bazemore)