This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued the July employment report indicating that the figure ticked up to 8.3% percent.
The figures show that U.S. employment rose by 163,000 in July, the highest in 5 months. Employment rose in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, and manufacturing.
Comparatively, BLS reported that the unemployment rate for June was 8.2% percent.
Presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney responded to the report by holding Pres. Obama accountable for the latest figures. “Today's increase in the unemployment rate is a hammer blow to struggling middle-class families," Romney said in a released statement. He claimed, "President Obama doesn’t have a plan," and added that his economic plan would "turn things around and bring the economy roaring back, with twelve million new jobs created by the end of my first term. "
The BLS surveys about 140,000 businesses and government agencies in order to provide industry figures on worker's employment, hours and earnings in the United States.