With a leading Republican candidate yet to emerge, the biggest risk to President Barack Obama’s quest for a second term next year is a jobless rate that has hovered between 9 and 10 percent for months.
Friday’s jobless report is expected to show nonfarm payrolls soared in February by 185,000 jobs, but the overall unemployment rate is nonetheless expected to edge up to 9.1 percent…
Analysts say the jobless rate needs to drop below 8 percent by autumn 2012 for voters to feel optimistic about the economy — and Obama’s handling of it — when they go to the polls that November.