Mitt Romney. Photo: wiki commons.

Businessweek – Grasping for an election advantage, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney cast Friday’s newest round of economic data is starkly different ways. Obama heralded more signs of slow, if steady, job growth. Romney said the uptick in the unemployment rate was a “hammer blow” to the middle class.

Both candidates sought to score political points in the hours after the Labor Department said the economy added 163,000 jobs in July, marking the best pace of hiring in five months. The jobless rate rose slightly, however, to 8.3 percent, from 8.2 percent in June.

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