and-neck presidential race in which jobs are of paramount concern to voters, the employment report spurred furious jockeying by political contenders to paint labor market prospects from their respective views. "The verdict is in," Kerry said. "President Bush will be the first President in 72 years to face the electorate with an economy that has lost jobs under his watch." But Snow, on his seventh trip this year to electoral swing state Ohio, told reporters that 13 straight months of job gains showed progress on employment. "Clearly we are on the right path. I am confident we will see that continue," he said. Since employment levels bottomed out in August 2003, some 1.8 million jobs have been added to payrolls -- an average of 138,500 a month, still below the 150,000-200,000 a month needed to absorb new entrants to the work force. --More 2327 Local Time 2027 GMT
