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Finally, the American people are getting some good news about unemployment that could signal real continued economic growth.

After steady but sluggish employment increases over the past two years, the jobless rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, down from 8.1 percent, a new 44-month low, the Associated Press reported today. The statistic reflects an additional 873,000 people who were added to the payrolls last month, according to the Department of Labor, the highest one-month jump in 29 years.

With the election just a month away, the media has been quick to point out that the good news comes at a fortuitous time for President Barack Obama, especially following what has almost universally been deemed a poor performance during the Presidential debate earlier in the week.

Employers added 114,000 jobs in September, and an average of 146,000 jobs from July through September, compared to just 67,000 over the previous three months.

The new data benefited from an adjustment made by the Labor Department which said it had underestimated the number of jobs created in July and August by 86,000, the AP reported.

Most of the new jobs were in healthcare, transportation and warehousing.

But the news isn't all good; many of the new jobs were part-time. The number of people with part-time jobs who wanted full-time work rose by 7.5 percent to 8.6 million, the most since February 2009.

According to the latest statistics there are still 12.1 million Americans unemployed, 456,000 less than last month.

Related Articles:

https://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2012/10/05/05-economy-adds-114k-jobs.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500395_162-57526534/jobs-report-unemployment-rate-drops-to-7.8-percent/