The National unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6 percent for the month of September, marking the 17th consecutive month it has been over 9 percent.

“We have yet to make a real dent in unemployment, and now we are entering the holiday season anxious about how consumers will respond,” said executive director of the National Employment Law Project Christine Owens.

President Obama, however,  highlighted private sector gains in employment while speaking in front of a masonry company in Bladensburg, Maryland.

“Yes, the trend line in private-sector job growth is moving in the right direction,” said Obama. “But I’m not interested in trends or figures as much as I am interested in the people behind them, the millions of honest, hard-working Americans swept up in the one of the most devastating recessions of our lifetimes.”

”Yes, the trend line in private-sector job growth is moving in the right direction,” Obama said. “But I’m not interested in trends or figures as much as I am interested in the people behind them, the millions of honest, hard-working Americans swept up in the one of the most devastating recessions of our lifetimes.”