Jobs crisis looms large
But Romney struggles to turn economy into votes
By Frank Quaratiello
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Mitt Romney has four more golden opportunities to swing voters his way — two more debates and two key unemployment reports, the first of which lands tomorrow morning.
But experts told the Herald yesterday the GOP presidential nominee still can’t seem to figure out how to capitalize on the sluggish economy.
“I think Romney has tried to take advantage of it,” said economist Elliot Winer. “He seems to be talking a lot about the economy, but is he making the right argument or using the best approach? If there’s a bad jobs report, Romney needs to just keep pounding it.”
Last week, the federal government released a broad revision of total nonfarm payrolls for the six months ending in March and the estimates rose by 386,000 jobs.
New Jersey-based ADP Employer Services reported yesterday that 162,000 jobs were added in September and revised its August data to show a 189,000 jump.
But tomorrow’s official unemployment report for September is the one that everyone is watching.
“How crucial the numbers are depend on how they turn out,” said David Tuerck of Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute. “If they show a substantial dip or increase in the unemployment rate, they could be significant.”
Tuerck said Romney should focus on the number of jobs the economy has lost since President Obama took office, because the monthly jobs report is unlikely to change much before Election Day.
“Romney should point out that in four years Obama hasn’t been able to fill a 5 million job gap,” said Tuerck. “It’s all because Obama hasn’t focused on economic growth. He has focused on health-care reform, financial reform and energy projects that have turned out to be a waste of money.”
In August, the U.S. economy added 96,000 jobs, down from 141,000 jobs in July, but the unemployment rate still fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July, largely because 368,000 people stopped looking for work.
“If job creation is low again (Friday), that would certainly be a boost for Romney,” said Winer. “If not, that would obviously help the Obama campaign. It’s hard to gauge how many votes that actually changes. I feel like many people have pretty much decided how they’re going to vote. But there’s a lot of time left.”
-— frankq@bostonherald.com
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