The Blockbuster Jobs Report gave Kamala Harris the push she needed

• The September jobs report came in stronger than expected, with 254,000 jobs added.
• With the election a month away, it could give Kamala Harris the boost she needs for the economy.
• Donald Trump has often blamed Harris and Joe Biden for inflation and negative consumer sentiment.

The latest jobs report may be just what Vice President Kamala Harris needs.

After months of data reflecting a cooling labor market, September’s jobs report came in surprisingly strong, with the economy adding 254,000 jobs, well above what economists had expected.

Also, the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.1% in September; it was expected to hold at 4.2 percent, so the drop is another sign of a stronger-than-expected labor market.

With the presidential election a month away, robust job growth looks like the boost Harris needs in the economy. After a bout of high inflation during the pandemic, the economy has typically been a sticking point for Harris and President Joe Biden.

The pace of inflation has slowed more recently, but many Americans still reported financial strain from high food and gas prices and were unable to see the country’s economic progress in their wallets.

The latest jobs report could change that — removing some of former President Donald Trump’s basis for attacking Harris on the economy.

Matt Colyar, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Business Insider that the closer Americans get to the election, the more important recent economic data becomes.

“That’s what people have in mind. They’re not thinking about long-term trends,” Colyar said, adding, “For the Harris administration, the developments of the last couple of days have been very good.”

Beyond a standout jobs report, the East Coast porters’ strike is over, at least until January 15th.

Harris will still have an uphill battle to fight on how Americans feel about the economy. The consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan Consumer Surveys showed that while consumers felt better in September than in August, views on the economy remained weak.

In a Pew Research Center survey of US adults conducted only between August 26 and September 2 a quarter of respondents said “economic conditions in this country today” are good or excellent. There was an unsurprising partisan divide — Pew found that a higher share of Democrats and Democratic-leaners said this than Republicans and Republican-leaners, at 41 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Trump has frequently attacked the Biden administration over the economy, recently claiming in a campaign ad that Harris made inflation worse, referring to the 2021 US bailout. While the legislative package did contribute to inflation, various other factors, including supply chain disruptions, price increase.

Americans will likely think about the economy when they decide who they want in office. In a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College in early September, a plurality of registered voters, 21 percent, said the economy was the most important issue in deciding their vote. Additionally, in a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center between August 26 and September 2, 81 percent of registered voters said the economy was “very important” in their voting decision.

It remains to be seen whether “vibesession“Americans face will persist, in which consumers feel bad about the US economy despite its health. The Biden administration, however, is latching onto the news, saying in a statement Friday: “We had good news for American workers and families with more than 250,000 new jobs in September and unemployment down to 4.1 percent.

“With today’s report, we have created 16 million jobs, unemployment remains low, and wages are rising faster than prices,” the statement said.

“I think workers feel we have more work to do,” Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su told BI. “We’ve been through a lot as a country and we’re just getting back on solid footing and we need to continue the policies and leadership that make this possible.”