GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Unemployment rates for September were down in US states considered critical to the outcome of next month’s presidential elections, according to figures released Friday 19 October by the United States Labor Department.
In swing states, including Colorado, Nevada, Florida and Ohio, where President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are hotly fighting for the votes, joblessness fell. Overall, unemployment was down in 44 states and in Washington DC, while it rose in six.
Sluggish economic growth and unemployment have become central to presidential campaigns, with the election taking place in under three weeks. National unemployment stands at 7.8 percent, the lowest level since Obama took office.
