The U.S. Labor Department will wait to gauge the impact ofHurricane Sandy before determining the status of the October jobsreport, the last before next week's presidential election.

The monthly employment data are scheduled to be released Nov. 2at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. The median forecasts of economistssurveyed by Bloomberg call for payrolls to rise by 125,000 workersin October and for the jobless rate to increase to 7.9 percent from7.8 percent.

“We will assess the situation when the weather emergency is overand notify the press and public of any changes at that time,” LaborDepartment spokesman Gary Steinberg said in an e- mailed statementtoday.

The jobs report may help sway voters trying to decide betweengiving President Barack Obama another four years in office or tochange course with Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The Obamaadministration has pointed to 24 straight months of job growth asevidence the economy is improving, while the Romney campaign hassaid progress is too slow.

Jack Welch, the former chief executive officer of GeneralElectric Co., suggested the Obama administration had manipulatedthe jobs data for political advantage after the Septemberunemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level sincethe president took office in January 2009. Alan Krueger, chairmanof the White House Council of Economic Advisers, called Welch'scomments “irresponsible.”

Prior to September, joblessness had exceeded 8 percent for 43straight months, the longest such stretch since at least 1948.

Ronald Reagan is the only president to have been re-electedsince World War II with unemployment above 6 percent. On ElectionDay 1984, the rate was at 7.2 percent, having dropped almost threepercentage points in the previous 18 months.

In a separate statement today, Labor Department spokesman CarlFillichio said the agency is “working hard” to ensure that the datawill be released as scheduled.

“It is our intention that Friday will be business as usualregarding the October employment situation report,” he said.

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