Studies show the economy has taken an unexpected upward turn in the past three months, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The upward turn was partially due to an increase in government spending, as well as consumer spending.
Other reports show that the economy has been increasing slowly since 2009.
President Barack Obama said, “After losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million jobs over the past two and a half years.”
The BBC reported that 114,000 jobs were created in the month of September.
“Last quarter our economy grew just 2 percent,” Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said. “The White House promised that the economy would be growing 4.3 percent, over twice as fast. Slow economic growth means slow job growth.”
As part of his campaign for the presidency, Romney has stated he will cut government spending by a total of 5 percent. He believes that increasing the deficit will hurt the economy in the long run.
“The unemployment rate this year has come down very, very slowly, but it’s come down nonetheless,” Romney said. “The reason it’s gone down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work”
The current U.S. unemployment rate is an estimated 7.8 percent, leaving over 20 million Americans without jobs.
“The drought in America was also a major problem, hindering growth by 0.4 percent,” the Department of Commerce reported.
Obama has promised to increase taxes on the wealthy; a policy he believes will help further growth.
Obama also plans to keep spending more government money, which will cause an increase in the deficit until the unemployment rate decreases.
“It remains too early to tell whether growth will accelerate or slow in the fourth quarter,” Chris Williamson, chief economist of a financial research firm called Markit, told the BBC.
