Thaindian News

Washington, Dec 12 (IANS) US President Barack Obama said he believes unemployment rate will fall below eight percent by the time US voters cast their votes to choose next president in November 2012, according to an interview broadcast Sunday night.

In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes”, Obama said he thinks “it’s possible” that the unemployment rate will be down to eight percent by the time the election begins.

However, Obama said he’s “not in the job of prognosticating on the economy”, and what he does is “putting in place the tools that allow the economy to thrive and Americans to succeed”.

He said Americans who are struggling have “every reason to be impatient,” but “reversing structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades, that was going to take time”, reported Xinhua.

With the economy facing strong headwinds and unemployment rate high, the presidential election has an unusually strong emphasis on the economy, and how the economy fares next year could have a bigger impact in the results of the election than previous elections.