Video: Desperate for a job

>> good evening. we received some important new xk economic numbers about jobs. unemployment continues to go down, but it's also true that hiring has sloaned down as well. this nation gained just 115,000 jobs last month, and again, the good news is unemployment is down again, though slightly, to 8.1%. some fear, though, what today's new numbers mean for the pace of recovery. others fear more people have stopped looking for work and in an election year, it is all, as you might imagine, under a microscope tonight. we begin with john yang in washington .

>> behind the fact and figures of today's jobs report are the real stories of the people desperate for a job, like kevin. she's been out of work for two years and her unemployment benefits beran out.

>> now i'm a person who sits around and tries to figure out how to pay bills and look for work.

>> she's given up finding a job as good as her old one.

>> she may still be looking, for hundreds of people just like her have thrown in the towel, and that helps explain the slightly lower unemployment number. the total number of americans with jobs actually fell last month, but the unemployment rate ticked down because fewer people were working or looking for work. more of the unemployment said last month they were so discouraged, they had given up working all together. in previous months, mild weather saw construction companies and hotels hiring earlier than ever.

>> there's not enough evidence to say that the recovery is by any means slowing. i think we were all a little overly optimistic in thinking it was speeding up.

>> the numbers quickly became a political issue. at a campaign event in pennsylvania, mitt romney got back on his key message.

>> this is a time when america wants someone who knows what it takes to create jobs and get working again. i think it helps to have had a job to create a job and i have and i will.

>> at a high school outside washington where some seniors are about to join the work force , president obama tried to emphasis the positive.

>> more than one million jobs in the last six months agone. that the good news, but there's still a lot of folks out of work, which means we have got to do more.

>> more politically as well. not since franklin roosevelt has a president been re-elected while facing unemployment at 8% or higher on election day . president obama can point to improvement, though. just a year ago, the unemployment rate was 9%.

>> john yang in suburban washington starting us off tonight, john, thanks wroorb.

>>> on wall street in new york today, the dow was down 168 points. nasdaq plumpged under 68. s & p 500 lost over 22 points on the day.

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