(NBC) -- A disappointing jobs report has President Obama on the defensive.
How voters feel about the economy could decide this presidency and the August jobs report is one of the last indicators of where we stand ahead of the election.
Just 96,000 jobs were created in August, down from 140,000 in July.
President Obama, campaigning in New Hampshire Friday, acknowledged room for improvement while putting a positive spin on the economy.
"Business once again added jobs for the 30th month in a row," he noted. "That's not good enough, we know it's not good enough. We need to create more jobs faster."
The unemployment rate has been above 8-percent for 43 consecutive months.
It dipped slightly to 8.1 percent last month as many people stopped looking for work.
Mitt Romney used those numbers to attack President Obama's jobs record.
"The President said we'd be at 4% unemployment, but we're at 8%. That would be 9 million more people," Romney said.
Economists say 200,000 new jobs are needed each month to lower the unemployment rate, an average we havent reached this year.