U.S. unemployment rate goes down

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent after the U.S. economy added 92,000 new jobs in October, reported the Labor department Friday. Based on its monthly survey of households the department reported that unemployment was brought down to a five-year-low with the addition of new jobs.

The civilian unemployment rate went down 0.2 percentage from 4.6 percent in September and the statistics reveal that the rapidity of job creation fell short even of the 138,000-a-month average pace of the last six months.

However, the rise in jobs was slightly lower than the increase of 125,000 estimated by economists for October. According to the economists, in order to keep up with the growing population, at least 150,000 new jobs are needed every month.

The report has come just three days short of the mid-term elections and it offers ample reasons to both sides for debating about the health of the economy.

President Bush was quick to seize upon the figures as evidence that his economic policies are working. “Tax cuts have led to a strong and growing economy and this morning we got more proof of that," the president said at Republican rally in Springfield.

He also used the opportunity to mention the democrats of whom he said, “... now they're forecasting they're going to win the election. If their elections forecasts are as good as their economic forecasts, we are going to have a great day on November the seventh."

The report also showed that Workers' average hourly earnings climbed a sizable 0.4 percent from September to $16.91 in October. The rise was bigger than the economists expected. They predicted that the earnings would climb 0.3 per cent. The wages have grown by 3.9 per cent over the last 12 months.

According to analysts the economy may expand as suggested by the addition of jobs and fall in unemployment rate in October.