It's enough for any US President to contend with; Hurricane Sandy devastating the east coast and a re-election Presidential campaign looming against Mitt Romney on Tuesday. So the hotly anticipated official figures released today from the Labour Department which show how the US is doing in terms of employment could be a deal maker for either side.

But it was good news for Obama seen here campaigning in Wisconsin. As the US economy has added 171,000 new jobs in October, which was much more than had been expected. But, the official figures also showed that the unemployment rate still 'rose' to 7.9%, having fallen to 7.8% in September, as more workers resumed the search for jobs.

In response Mitt Romney, said 'Today's increase in the unemployment rate is a sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill," Romney has made the issue of employment a key driver to his election . He added 'The jobless rate is higher than it was when President Obama took office, and there are still 23 million Americans struggling for work."

Ironically when Obama took office after George Bush he inherited the high unemployment figures,but Romney has chosen not to focus on this as aprt of his campaign. But whoever wins the presidential election will have to reach a budget agreement with legislators by the end of the year, to prevent $600bn of tax increases and spending cuts kicking in automatically in 2013 which could take the US back into recession.

Written and presented by Ann salter