US Economy Adds 114K Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.8 Percent

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September. The drop marks the first time since President Obama took office that the unemployment rate has been below 8 percent.

According to the Labor Department total nonfarm

payroll employment rose by 114,000 in September and the economy also created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.

The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September.

Among Hispanics, the unemployment rate barely moved - declining from 10.2 percent to 9.9 percent. One year ago, the Hispanic unemployment rate was at 11.3 percent.

The new jobs report could be a job changer for the presidential elections that's only a month away.

According to the department, in September, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs decreased by 468,000 to 6.5 million and the number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 302,000 over the month to 2.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed - those jobless for 27 weeks or more - was little changed at 4.8 million and accounted for 40.1

But while the unemployment rate has declined, the labor department has noted that employment growth has averaged 146,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011.