We’ve created 5.4 million new jobs, and this morning we learned companies hired more workers in October than any time in the last 8 months. The American auto industry is back on top. Home values and housing construction is on the rise. We’re less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the past 20 years. We’ve made real progress, but we’re here today because we know we have more work to do.

President Obama in Ohio today

We’re moving forward. Now, after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years. This morning, we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since I took office. More Americans entered the workforce. More people are getting jobs.

Now, every month reminds us that we’ve still got too many of our friends and neighbors who are looking for work. And there are too many middle-class families that are still struggling to pay the bills—they were struggling long before the crisis hit. But today’s news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. It’s a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now.

President Obama in Fairfax, VA today