Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement on the October 2012 Employment Situation report:

"Our nation's labor market added 171,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in October, while the unemployment rate remained essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent. Additionally, our economy added back more than 84,000 jobs in August and September than had been initially reported.

"October's report marks 32 straight months of private sector job growth totaling more than 5.4 million jobs. We've also seen 13 consecutive quarters of private gross domestic product growth. In other words, we've been consistently growing jobs and our economy for several years running.

"Our unemployment rate has dropped by more than two percentage points under President Obama. Unemployment Insurance claims are at a four-year low. Consumer sentiment is at a four-year high. We've added more than a half-million manufacturing jobs over the last 32 months. And we just posted the largest 12-month increase in housing permits since 1983.

"We've transformed a terrible crisis into a stable and durable recovery. To state otherwise is to wage war on the facts. We've erased all of the private sector job losses since the president took office and added 1.2 million new jobs.

"We know what works, and the president has a plan to accelerate our progress by investing in education and job training, and by creating good-paying 21^st century jobs in health care, energy, technology and manufacturing. Our recovery depends on building a strong and educated middle class that creates enough demand for the private sector to keep adding new jobs. These efforts are foundational to our success in a 21^st century economy."

Ken Goldstein, Economist, The Conference Board: In addition to upward revisions in August and September, the labor market continued to improve in October, generating 171,000 new jobs, providing a needed boost to recovering consumer sentiment and bolstering optimism for the upcoming holiday season. More demand might also counter business concern about adding to cost structures while profit margins are under pressure. If these concerns about maintaining revenue and profits are addressed by some rise in demand, we could see investment in both capital and human capital pick up heading into the new year.