Unemployment Sticks at 9.1%, Claims Rise Slightly (Updated)

Word has just come from the US Department of Labor, that national unemployment remains stuck at 9.1%. This is obviously not good news for the president. And neither is the move on initial unemployment claims:

Initial jobless claims in the week ended Oct. 1 climbed by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 401,000, the Labor Department said.

The increase was smaller than expected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected applications to rise to 410,000.

More as the story develops.

Update: Mitt Romney responds with a hammering:

Segment From “FOX And Friends”:

Mitt Romney: “Well, you can learn some lessons from Ronald Reagan and what he did after the recession when he came into office and he made sure that government was not burdening the enterprise system. He kept taxes low. Held down regulation. Expanded trade around the world. And in the month of September following the recession he inherited, we actually created over a million jobs. So what you’re seeing now is the result of a failed economic policy by a president who has been in office three years and is looking for someone to blame.

Steve Doocy: “Well, yeah, and he’s going to blame Congress, obviously. Here’s a snippet of the President yesterday talking about how he’s gone out of his way to get the other side on board. Let’s listen.”

President Obama: “I have gone out of my way in every instance, sometimes at my own political peril and to the frustration of Democrats to work with Republicans to find common ground, to move this country forward.”

Doocy: “Mr. Romney, wouldn’t you say that the President knows his jobs bill and the way it is right now is not going to pass and all he’s doing is trying to portray the U.S. Congress as a bunch of do nothings like Harry Truman did to score political points for next year.”

Mitt Romney: “You know, I think he’s having a very hard time doing that because the American people remember that for the first two years of this president’s administration, after he inherited the recession, he had a Democrat House and a Democrat Senate. He had his way with legislation. He could do whatever he wanted. He passed a massive stimulus bill, said he’d hold unemployment below 8%. It hasn’t been below 8% since. So he’s had his way and trying to find someone new to blame is simply not going to work.”