World News
Voters say battered US economy, candidates' solutions are a top concern
Published: October 1, 2012
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The nation's economy, which has been put through the wringer, is on center stage for the November elections as voters look to what the two major presidential candidates are saying about the situation and what their response is for getting it back on track. New economic data reveals a grim picture: The nation's unemployment rate remains stuck above 8 percent, and the U.S. has been in a slow recovery since the recession that began in December 2007 officially ended in June 2009. As the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts it, despite the official end to that severe economic downturn, many statistics related to indicators of U.S. economic health -- such as employment, construction, manufacturing and consumer spending -- have yet "to return to pre-recession levels." In August, about 12.5 million Americans were unemployed, while 8 million worked part time and sought full-time jobs. A report released Sept. 27 by the U.S. Labor Department indicated a slight improvement -- mainly for the first time since President Barack Obama took office, the number of jobs in the U.S. has increased. In the year after his inauguration in January 2009, about 4.3 million jobs in the U.S. were lost, but new figures show that since that time 4.4 million jobs have been added. The other slight bump in economic good news was a jump in consumer confidence in August and steady gains in home prices.
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