Jobless Rate Falls Slightly In October

The U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs last month, but the national unemployment rate dropped only one-tenth of a point from 9.1 to 9 percent.

According to the Department of Labor, the professional and business services, healthcare, leisure and hospitality, and mining sectors sectors experienced “modest job growth” during the month.

Losses occurred in the public sector, where state and local governments shed 24,000 “non-educational” jobs.

The Labor Department also revised its August jobs estimate from 57,000 104,000, and its September numbers from 103,000 to 158,000.

As you might expect, Democrats and Republicans reacted differently to the news.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) blamed Senate Republicans for blocking “consideration of three separate jobs bills over the past month” and House Republicans for doing “essentially nothing to address our jobs crisis for more than 300 days.”

Meanwhile, GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) attributed the less-than-stellar numbers to President Obama and Democrats in Congress.

“If we are ever to get out of this ditch, President Obama, the Democrats and Occupy Wall Street need to wake up and stop blaming job creators for the failures created by selfish politicians.”

This is a developing story…