LAT: U.S. Job Growth Seen as Uneven in Latest Measure Before Election

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-102204jobs_lat,1,3994466,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The number of payroll jobs increased in 33 states last month, including most of the presidential campaign battlegrounds, the Labor Department said today in its last employment scorecard before the Nov. 2 elections.

Yet the picture in the swing states was not altogether sunny. Hurricane-whipped Florida posted a loss of 9,500 payroll positions in September, and Midwestern neighbors Wisconsin and Minnesota shed 7,000 and 2,200 jobs.

The unemployment rate, which is measured by a different survey from the payroll job count, improved in 23 states last month and worsened in 22. Virtually all the swing states registered improvements or no change for the month.

The state-by-state tallies reflected the national pattern of gradual gains in most job markets, but not the kind of robust growth President Bush had hoped for during the home stretch of his reelection campaign against Democratic nominee John F. Kerry.

[bemildred]

1. Is this guy on valium or something?

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

"Yet the picture in the swing states was not altogether sunny."

"not the kind of robust growth President Bush had hoped for"