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Jobless Rate Drops; The Middle Class Talks Back; More Jobs in September; Where are the Jobs?; Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.8 Percent in September; Romney: 47 Percent Remarks "Completely Wrong"; Winter Weather Comes Early; American Airlines to Fix More Seats; Red Sox Fire Bobby Valentine

Aired October 05, 2012 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello begins right now. Have a great weekend. We'll see you back here Monday morning.

Hey, Carol.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello in Washington.

We begin this hour with breaking news on the economy. New jobless numbers are in. And guess what? The unemployment rate is now below 8 percent. So let's head straight back to New York.

Christine Romans is there to break these numbers down for us.

Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. 7.8 percent is the unemployment rate now, it fell from 8.1 percent. And 114,000 jobs were created in the month.

Carol, there's another number here, 86,000. That's how many jobs were added in July and August that government auditor didn't notice in the beginning. They revised their numbers. So actually, July, August were stronger than expected to the tune of 86,000.

7.8 percent unemployment rate. What does that mean? It's the best since January 2009. When we dig within these BLS numbers, Carol, we can also see that some 418,000 people entered the workforce in the month. They are feeling a little more confident about things. Either that or they've been out of the workforce for so long they've got to try to get in and try to get a job. So you've got more people coming into the workforce. And overall, 114,000 jobs created.

Those jobs, Carol, in health care, in transportation, and government jobs. Government jobs, three months in a row now. You know, we've been seeing government layoffs for many, many, many months in a row. Government jobs, transportation, warehousing and we've been seeing -- everything else is pretty much flat in terms of job categories.

But the headline, Carol, 7.8 percent is the unemployment rate. One more jobs report until the election.

COSTELLO: OK. So the political implications of this already coming in. In fact, we just got an e-mail from conservatives. And this is what they're saying, Christine. Conservatives are challenging the legitimacy of the Labor Department number. Can someone explain how the jobs added up right where economists were projecting and yet the rate fell to below 8 percent?

Also Jack Welch. You know, Jack Welch, the former GE guy.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: He's tweeting this morning and he's saying, and I'm going to read it to you, "Unbelievable jobs numbers. These Chicago guys will do anything. Can't debate, so change numbers."

I mean -- so is it possible the Labor Department is lying or has changed these numbers in some way?

ROMANS: Look, these numbers are often revised. Usually when you have a vibrant growing jobs market, Carol, a revision of 86,000 does not make any difference at all because you have much more jobs being created, much more dynamism in the labor market. We don't have that right now.

In terms of why the two numbers are different, there are two different surveys the government does. A household survey where they ask people whether they're employed and a company survey where they ask companies how many people are employed. Those are two different numbers. So that's why you have the number of jobs created or lost and then the jobless rates. So that's kind of a technical data gathering reason.

As for -- look, you're going to hear conservatives say either they don't trust these numbers or they're going to say, look, 114,000 is the important number to look at here because that's not good enough. It is not good enough. You need 150,000 just to keep up with new people in the workforce. So anybody crowing about 114,000 job is wrong.

You're going to have liberals and progressives saying 7.8 percent, thank goodness. Now we know people are entering the workforce, we're going in the right direction. So there's something in here for both sides to try to take on politically.

COSTELLO: OK. We're going to talk a lot more about this in the next two hours of NEWSROOM.

Christine Romans, thanks so much.

As the day wears on, Mitt Romney and President Obama will mostly likely spin those numbers. Romney sure to say the president's economic plan is not working. The president sure to say, hey my policies are working. It just takes time to heal a wounded economy. In the middle of this political rhetoric are people like Moira Bindner.

Under water on their mortgage, underemployed and still struggling. And Moira is part of out middle class "Talk Back."

Welcome, Moira.

MOIRA BINDNER, UNDEREMPLOYED WORKER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thank you for being here. We make a big deal of these numbers every month. Do you pay attention to them?

BINDNER: Yes and no. I'm actually tired of the pundits telling me what to think and what's going on with the numbers. I just want the employers to start hiring. What I've heard out there is that there are jobs, but being a part of the underemployed or the ones that are really trying to find something a little bit more, the challenges, it's taking months and months of interviews and waiting. And I'm just so frustrated that it's --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: And so -- so this 7.8 percent unemployment rate, does that affect you at all? I mean does that do something psychologically for you that says, oh, my goodness, the economy is getting better?

BINDNER: No. No. It says that, you know, it's still challenging out there. There are hundreds of people applying for the same jobs. You're struggling to get in the door. The challenges that HR departments out there are being told we're not sure if we can hire that person or we're not sure if we can, you know, give that person benefits and maybe they should come in as a contract.

And you know I feel like I want to say to employers, come on, you guys. Just get in gear and be in action. Don't wait for grease or for the election or for whatever to make a decision to hire people. Just do it.

COSTELLO: Moira, I know you're a Democrat. You voted for President Obama last time around. These numbers, combined with President Obama's debate performance, I mean have you changed your mind about the president and support for the president?

BINDNER: I have not changed my mind. I still do support the president. He really had an off night the other night. And Governor Romney did a good job, you know, for what he needed to do. I -- but I also went the next day on the fact checker and looked at, you know, the reality of what they both said. And there was discrepancies on both sides.

You know, more discrepancies on Romney's side. So you know, I don't trust Governor Romney. I trust the president a lot more than I trust Governor Romney.

COSTELLO: OK. So we're going to talk a lot more about this in the story right after you, Moira, but I'll ask you right now, that 47 percent remark that Mitt Romney made with that, you know, secretly recorded videotape, he came out and said, you know, I didn't mean that at all. It was a mistake. Never mind. Don't pay attention to that. Does that resonate for you? BINDNER: I'm so glad you asked that question, Carol, because in the past 14 months my husband was unemployed. He just got a temp job Tuesday. And we were dependent on that unemployment so that we wouldn't lose our house. We were -- we don't have health care, so we had to go to social services.

You know, there was a lot of things that we needed help on. So I was a part of that 47 percent, but I'm telling you, I was not a victim. And I was ticked off at Governor Romney on that comment.

COSTELLO: And his latest comments don't make you any less ticked off?

BINDNER: It's just so frustrating, you know.

COSTELLO: I know.

BINDNER: I'm just -- yes.

COSTELLO: Moira Bindner, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it, as always.

BINDNER: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Our political guy, Paul Steinhauser, is in the house right now.

Are you going to talk about the reaction that conservatives having -- are having to these latest job numbers, Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I wish I could give you some brand new reaction but I don't have yet. I reached out to the Romney campaign, Carol, in Boston. They're probably, as we speak, trying to put together a reaction to these -- to these numbers.

Listen, one thing we've been seen, though, for a long time from the campaign trail has been a criticism of the president because the unemployment rate was above 8 percent. You've heard Mitt Romney and other Republicans attack the president saying that rate was above 8 percent. It is no longer above 8 percent. And I think that number is important.

What I think you may hear Republicans attack the president on on these numbers is that, as Christine Romans was just telling you, not enough jobs. Only 114,000 jobs created which yes, more than analysts have predicted but still probably not the number needed to really reverse course and really, you know, kick-start this economy.

So we will see probably in the next few minutes reaction from the Romney campaign, from other Republicans and I'm sure you're going to hear the candidate himself, the former governor, talk about it on the trail today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, we've already heard sort of a familiar criticism because conservatives are already reacting to this -- the 7.8 percent unemployment rate saying, these numbers are wrong. They're just wrong. We don't believe them. How can they be? And this has been sort of a -- it's become a familiar tactic.

STEINHAUSER: Are you talking about that tweet, I guess, from Jack Welch, right, talking about maybe that the -- Obama campaign was cooking the books. Look, I don't know how those numbers work. So I really can't comment on that. But yes, there has been criticism in the past of the polls and of this.

Listen, when the -- when the things aren't going your way, numbers aren't going your way, be they poll numbers or jobs numbers, maybe -- you know, this is -- this is a reaction. I don't think you're going to hear that kind of talk, tough, from the Romney campaign themselves -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, you'll join us later to tell us because I'm sure there'll be quick reaction that will come in just a few minutes.

Paul Steinhauser, thanks.

So if you're one of those Americans who are still out there looking for a job, this is for you. We wanted to end this segment on a bright note.

Alison Kosik is taking a look at who is hiring for the biggest shopping season of the year.

Good morning, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So yes, many areas are actually hiring. You look at the September jobs report. Health care added 44,000 jobs. And that's not a huge surprise because that's an area that's considered recession proof. You know, health care added actually more than 300,000 jobs over the past year. And it's not just in hospitals. You look at ambulance services, too.

OK. Not just there. Transportation and warehousing, additional 17,000. Even the financial industry, which has been hit really hard added another 13,000.

Now another area that didn't make the top five list of sectors hiring in September but will in the coming months is retail. And that's because of the holidays. You know, a bunch of these big box stores are going to be hiring by the thousands. That's what they've announced. They include Target, Macy's, Kohl's, and they're hiring for sales associates, distribution centers and stocking.

Now many of them are hiring more people than they did last holiday season. They're hoping, as consumer confidence picks up and maybe gain some momentum, the hope is so will spending. So they're going to need people on the other side to actually take those sales in -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So what happens when the holidays are over?

KOSIK: Yes, that is the big question, isn't it? Well, some of them actually hire some of these part-time people, full-time with the Target. Target has a 30 percent retention rate. It means it keeps 30 percent of the workers on after the holidays. Thing is, we're not so sure whether these are full-time jobs or part-time jobs, but they're jobs nonetheless.

Toys "R" Us keeps 15 percent of their holiday job hires as permanent. But you know, you look at it this way. You get in there part time during the holidays. You've got to get in there. Prove yourself. You have a better shot of getting a job than maybe not trying. You know, some sources are saying that they actually started hiring back in the summertime to get ready for the holidays as well.

Target says it's going to be hiring through December, but others are going to finish earlier. So go ahead, grab those resumes, and I say get out there -- Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Advice taken. Alison Kosik, live from the New York Stock Exchange.

A bit more on those economic numbers because the psychological factor is important here, the unemployment rate dropping below 8 percent to 7.8 percent.

Let's talk to Stephen Moore. He's the senior economics writer for "The Wall Street Journal." He joins us now.

Good morning, Stephen.

STEPHEN MOORE, SENIOR ECONOMICS, WSJ EDITORIAL PAGE: Hi. Good morning.

COSTELLO: So is this great news, good news, not so much news? What is this?

MOORE: I think they're probably doing a little jig over at the White House right now. They're certainly good news for the White House coming off a bad debate. These are pretty good numbers. You know the fact that for the first time in over 40 months we now have an unemployment rate less than 8 percent.

One interesting thing about these numbers that people might be a little confused about is, you know, officially the economy gained about 115,000, 120,000 jobs, which is so-so. But then you look at this other survey that we do of households and that found a gigantic gain in jobs something like 750,000 or 800,000.

And so we're -- as economists, we're trying to figure out why the big discrepancy in these two numbers. But you know the reason we call it the headline number, the unemployment rate, because that's going to be the headline tomorrow, unemployment less than 8 percent.

COSTELLO: OK. So I have to ask you this because Jack Welch, a conservative guy, came out and said unbelievable jobs numbers. These Chicago guys will do anything. Is there any reason for any of us to believe that these numbers might be wrong or cooked or --

MOORE: Well, it's a good question. You know, first of all, the most important number is going to be the one that comes out 30 days from now. Remember we have one more unemployment rate, an unemployment picture that comes out the Friday before the election. So that will obviously be the most important one in terms of the outcomes of who wins this election.

But, yes, this was generally a pretty good number. Although I want to go back to that point. You know we still have this wide diversion in these two reports in terms of where the employment picture is. One other statistic, if I may, that's not so rosy is that, you know, when we look at the broad rate of unemployment, which includes people who can't find a full-time job and we include people who have dropped out of the labor force because they've just become discouraged, that number is still 14.7 percent.

That's still a very high number and very economically troubling.

COSTELLO: Yes, and we just heard from one of those people, Moira Bindner, she's exactly the kind of person you're talking about.

There are other bright notes in the economy, though. I mean housing values are up.

MOORE: Yes.

COSTELLO: For example.

MOORE: Yes.

COSTELLO: You heard Alison Kosik just say that retailers plan to hire 600,000 people during the holidays. These things are good, too, right?

MOORE: Yes. I think, you know, you really hit the nail right on the head. With the housing issue. Because when you think about it, what have we got right now? We've got record low interest rates. So you can get -- now get a 30-year mortgage for less than 4 percent. You've got a housing stock, you're finally starting to see new houses being constructed. So I think the housing picture is pretty positive right now.

And, by the way, when people start to build houses and buy houses, that means more jobs for people in the construction industry, people in the real estate industry. And given the fact that we've been on a five-year depression in housing, there's some real rays of hope here.

COSTELLO: Stephen Moore from "The Wall Street Journal," thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The Romney campaign and the White House sure to speak up on these new jobs numbers. We'll take a look at how they might spin it this morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 17 minutes past the hour. We'll continue coverage of our top story, the jobs report.

But, first, a look at other news. Israeli police say an American opened fire inside a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat. One hotel worker was killed and anti-terror unit responded, killing the gunman. Police say the American had been laid off from the hotel staff.

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, travels to Arizona today to express her condolences to the family of border patrol agent. Nicholas Ivie was shot to death responding to a border sensor that had gone off. U.S. authorities are questioning two men found near the border with drugs and guns.

Legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt says she felt forced out of Tennessee after her diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's. Summitt's revelation came in an affidavit filed with a lawsuit by a former colleague against the university. Back in April, Summitt announced her retirement, saying she felt it was time to step down.

The CDC says more people have been linked to fungal meningitis infections. Patients in 23 states could have been exposed to tainted medications. Five people have died, 35 have gotten sick.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: And now back to our top story, or breaking news story. Today's jobs report shows 114,000 new jobs added to the economy in September. The unemployment rate, it's fallen to 7.8 percent. Presidential campaigns are expected to jump all over this.

And there's only one more jobs report before that November election.

Brianna Keilar, our White House correspondent, joins us now. Have we heard from the Obama camp yet?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESONDENT: We haven't yesterday. We're actually expecting, Carol, to first to hear from the White House. That should be pretty soon. And then we're expecting that the Obama campaign will follow. That's just sort of the way they do things.

But, you know, it's interesting. We haven't heard a lot of official reaction also from Congress. And that tends to happen when something is unexpected, if it's worse or if it's better than projected by economists because a lot of offices, both Democratic and Republican have press releases already in the can. They're sort of rewriting them to adjust to whatever the reality is when the numbers come out at 8:30 on this Friday.

So this will be a positive for President Obama in that these are the lowest numbers since President Obama came into office, and also getting over kind of that mental hurdle of 8 percent unemployment. No president has won re-election with unemployment being at 8 percent.

But as you mentioned, there is another jobs number and that's going to come out the Friday right before Election Day. So we'll be keeping an eye on that.

This is good for President Obama. Is it great? No. These numbers aren't booming. You look at July and August, they were revised upward. This is sort of a ray of hope the president can point to.

But when we do get reaction from the White House and the Obama campaign, we'll expect for them to say, carol, what they say a lot of times, which is things are heading in the right direction. They're not heading there fast enough. I think we'll be hearing some of that today.

COSTELLO: OK. They're not going to spike the proverbial football, not just yet.

Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.

Another number that's creating waves this morning -- remember Mitt Romney's infamous 47 percent remark at a private meeting with fat cat donors? On the secretly recorded tape, Romney pretty much wrote off nearly half of Americans, saying they're in the bag for Obama because they rely on government handouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right? There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you well know, Romney took a lot of attack for that blunt assessment and said yes, the words were inelegant but he said they were also true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: It's a message which I'm going to carry and continue to carry, which is, look, the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because, frankly, my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them. And therefore, I'm not likely to draw them into my campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But last night, Romney had a complete about face. Now he is denouncing that remark all together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Clearly in a campaign with hundreds, if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right. In this case, I said something that's just completely wrong. I absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that I care about 100 percent. And that's been demonstrated throughout my life. And this whole campaign is about the 100 percent. When I become president, it will be about helping the 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joins me now in Washington.

So, Paul, Romney chose to clarify his remark on FOX. No accident there perhaps.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, he was doing an interview last night with his running mate, Paul Ryan.

Carol, I think what you heard last night was the answer Mitt Romney would have given in the presidential debate Wednesday night if he had been asked by President Obama or the moderator about it. You know, they were prepared to talk about the 47 percent number controversy in the debate. The president never brought it up. It didn't come up in the debate.

So, last night, on FOX, he was asked by Sean Hannity, what would you have said, were you asked. That was the answer.

I talked to a few sources close to the Romney campaign. And, Carol, they say, listen, wait a minute, it's not an about face, they say. Actually, his comments are pretty close to what they've been saying since the controversy first came about. You heard had him in those comments. You heard talk of him being president of all 100 percent. That's something he's been saying for a few weeks.

COSTELLO: Yes, but he never totally rejected what he said in that secretly recorded tape. So, his camp is now saying that his thoughts on the 47 percent remark are consistent?

STEINHAUSER: They're saying it isn't very different from what he has been saying all along. The words you played sound to me to be a little different than what he said in the past. Those comments are from September 17th in that impromptu news conference in California right after the controversy first broke -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, in the light of the changing or not changing comments of the 47 percent remark, the president was on the campaign trail yesterday. He says Romney is guilty of reinventing himself. Listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I got on the stage, I met this very spirited fellow, who claimed to be Mitt Romney. But I know it couldn't have been Mitt Romney because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year, promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. And yet the fellow on the stage last night, who looked like Mitt Romney, said he did not know anything about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, of course, Paul, Democrats are saying, who was that guy during the debate?

That point aside, will this new message resonate?

STEINHAUSER: You saw a lot of energy for the president in both those rallies. But this is the theme coming from the Obama campaign and the candidate himself, that Mitt Romney is maybe twisting the facts, that he's a different man, he's changed man, maybe moving to the middle. I think you're going to hear a lot more of that, Carol.

We just got reaction to the Romney campaign on the unemployment report. The first line from their statement, this is not what a real recovery looks like. Stay tuned, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. I'm sure there will be more later.

Paul Steinhauser, live in Washington.

The manufacturing sector is seeing a turnaround after getting hit hard in the recession. We'll take you to Indiana, where one company is contributing to the comeback.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. We're heading to 30 minutes pas the hour.

Turning back to our big story this morning, the U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent. The manufacturing, the sector hit hard during the recession, is contributing to that number. It's slowly making a comeback.

Manufacturing accounted for 16 percent of new U.S. jobs in the first seven months of the year. Nearly double the sector share of the total labor force, which is 9 percent.

One company doing its part to create manufacturing jobs is Wieland Designs, which makes furniture for health care and automotive industries.

Let's bring in our Ted Rowlands. He's at the Wieland's headquarters in Gushing, Indiana.

Good morning, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

This is in Elkhart County, Indiana. Unemployment here was about 18.5 percent. It's come down to about 8 percent.

The problem now is finding workers. Here in Wieland, they've added 70 workers over the past year. This is Kip Wieland, CEO. You're still looking for more folks to fill positions.

KIP WIELAND, PRESIDENT, WIELAND DESIGNS: Right. We're looking for probably about 15 to 20 people for direct labor positions, and, I don't know, four or five on the administrator side, which are mostly product specialists, and salespeople, engineers, things like that.

ROWLANDS: It's been difficult to find people?

WIELAND: It's been difficult. All over this county, it has been.

ROWLANDS: Difficult. You would think, though, Carol, you know, these are jobs that pay between $11 and $15 an hour, full benefits. There's an 8 percent unemployment rate here.

Why aren't people beating the door down here?

Well, Jacqueline Barton is with the staffing company that she has started called Specialized Staffing Solutions.

Jacqueline, it's very interesting. One of the hurdles here, you have people on long-term unemployment that simply don't want to go back to work.

JACQUELINE BARTON, SPECIALIZED STAFFING SOLUTIONS: Yes. That's a hurdle. Obviously, we have to celebrate some things here. Employees that want to work and can work are working. That's the great news about our current unemployment rate.

But the challenge is over the last couple of years, employees who haven't worked have developed a pattern and habit, and it's going to take a little bit of time to get them back into the rhythm of going back to work. So there's a good percentage that that unemployment rate that we have that is due to the fact that employees, unfortunately, at this time don't feel that they need to go back to work.

ROWLANDS: People, Carol, are comfortable living in their parents' basements apparently and there isn't that drive to come back to work. That's being felt here in this county and Jacqueline says she's talking to people around the country where there are jobs that have come back quickly, this is starting to be a problem. It's fascinating. One wouldn't think that. But it's happening here in Indiana, where people just don't want to come back to work for available jobs.

COSTELLO: That flies in the face of like what you think about hard- working Americans, I mean, who are among the hardest working people in the world?

ROWLANDS: Yes. Jacqueline did say that the bulk of that 18 percent that were out of work, first 10 percent were eager and willing to take any job. The problem is that all of that workforce has been absorbed from the R.V. industry, the airline, seat covers here and they make here and other industries in this county.

So, it's a real problem just here finding those workers for these jobs that are open. It's not that everybody is lazy here. The ones that wanted to go back to work went back lickety-split.

COSTELLO: Ted Rowlands, thanks so much, live in Goshen, Indiana.

I'm watching the numbers on Wall Street here, started in negative territory. Once the bell was wrung on Wall Street, take a look at that.

Already, the Dow is up almost 63 points. We're going to keep an eye on that for you.

For more on the job market, including the numbers behind the headlines on today's unemployment report, head to our partners at CNNMoney.com. They do great work over there and will help you understand what's going on.

Running on empty. In California, gas prices shoot up -- I mean shoot up. Many stations shut down. We'll tell you what's behind this developing crisis and whether you will soon feel the pinch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This is the time of year when gas prices start to slide across much of the country. But many Americans will be well advised to buckle up for some rough weeks ahead. The national average for unleaded is just under $3.79 a gallon. That's enough to make money of us wince.

But in California, that price would be bargain basement. Drivers out there are shelling out and average of 70 cents more, just under $4.49 a gallon. And in many places, the prices have crept above $5.

And get this -- that may not be the worst of it. The same refinery- related problems that are pushing prices up are also causing some stations to shut down completely. So let's take a closer look at what this means to California., and the rest of the country.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us from a gas station in Burbank to explain.

Good morning.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

In fact, this is one of the stations that's still open. The price of gas here for regular is $4.61. This is Rick Laramor, putting the hose away.

All right. What's the verdict for you this morning?

RICK LAMOUR, PATRON: Well, like I told you before, this is sticker shock for me. I'm kind of amazed. I went to three -- this is my third gas station this morning. I thought there was a mistake. And, you know, I'm -- yeah, I'm here. I'm at $60 for three-quarters of a tank. I'm shocked.

VERCAMMEN: And you just entered a new job. You were unemployed or freelancing for a while. How long is your commute going to be? Are you going all the way to Disneyland?

LAMOUR: That's correct. I'll be working at Disneyland. From here in Burbank, that's a little under an hour drive at this time of the morning. So --

VERCAMMEN: How do you make ends meet with this?

LAMOUR: Can I get back to you on that? I don't know. This is going to be tough. This is going to be a tough one.

VERCAMMEN: Good luck to you. Have a safe drive.

Rick has quite a haul here. As you saw, he spent $60 alone this morning. And as you saw, he spent $60 alone this morning.

A lot of factors here, Carol. California hit by what some people are calling that perfect storm. We had refinery shutdowns, we had a pipeline issue, we had power outages.

And, then, of course, California, a lot of people forget this, but California has extremely high gasoline tax. It's almost 70 cents a gallon. All of it at play right here, and a lot of it laser focused on California, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, is it likely those problems will spread across the country or will this be limited to California?

VERCAMMEN: No. They figure that this is pretty much limited to California based on, you know, what's happened here in this state. And as I said before, it's compounded because California has such a high gas tax as well. And that's why you're seeing these gas prices just sky rocket here.

As I said at this station, which is opened, $4.61. Up and down the street, as Rick was pointing out, it's not uncommon to see $4.70 in this part of Burbank for regular.

COSTELLO: You know, I really felt for him. Wow! Thanks so much, Paul Vercammen reporting live for us from Burbank, California, this morning.

Of course, we are watching markets react to the jobs numbers just released this morning. The Dow up just about 62 points. More analysis on what those jobs numbers mean when we come back.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: Forty minutes past the hour.

Those new job numbers out today seem pretty good for President Obama. It's his opponents that are getting to the microphone first to cry foul. In a statement, the Mitt Romney campaign said that this is, quote, "not what a real recovery looks like."

Christine Romans is in New York.

Christine, there are also a lot of conservative groups centered around e-mails like this one, Americans for Limited Government. This is a conservative group who say these numbers are just plain wrong and maybe have even been tampered with.

I'm just going to read you a quote from the e-mail I just got. It says, "It appears that Obama has hired infamous Iraqi information minister Baghdad Bob to calculate the unemployment rate. Anyone who take this is unemployment report serious is either naive or a paid Obama campaign adviser."

And, of course, they're looking at the 7.8 percent unemployment figure and saying that can't possibly be right.

ROMANS: Oh, let me explain how this works. We explain this every month, actually. There are two surveys. A survey of households and a survey of companies and sometimes they show slightly different results, right?

They are surveying two completely different groups, one of people who are getting a job and one people who are giving a job and not necessarily the same people in those same surveys all the time. Here is something I want to point out to these people who are talking about Baghdad Bob at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Where were they the day after the president's speech in Charlotte when all the enthusiasm after his DNC speech was taken away by a lackluster jobs support, where were they the past three years when we've been pointing out this is a subpar economic recovery and the jobs aren't coming?

This is an election year press release I don't know what that -- I will tell you this, Carol, I had never in 20 years of reporting on Labor Department reports seen someone actually say that -- let me read the last thing that is so kind of -- oh, that the people working at the BLS are paid Obama campaign advisers. They haven't been acting that way over the past three years, that's for sure.

These are economists who look at numbers, who look at them again, who revised them until you have a final reading, because the labor market has been in such distress really over the past four years, we've seen a lot of different revisions and weird movements because usually it's a dynamic and growing labor market that's pretty easy to read. It goes up. When it goes down, you know exactly why. To throw politics in it is just silly. It's just silly, Carol.

COSTELLO: It's disturbing because, you know, we can't be happy with any tiny little bright note in the economy. We all have to like wonder if it's true or -- and that doesn't help things either. For the economy to recover it's psychological in part, right?

To run around saying the numbers are wrong, they're lying about the numbers. The economy is really, really, really bad, it's just like -- I don't know. It doesn't help.

ROMANS: It's frustrating. What's frustrating about it, there's so much data out there. And we know that the labor market is not recovering the way it should and the way it has in the past. No one is disputing that.

We know that 114,000 jobs is not enough to make everyone feel better about the labor market. We also know that people are starting to come into the labor market -- 418,000 people entered the labor market and they're going to try. They're going to try to get a job again.

Unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent. We know all this. It's just numbers.

To fight about one little set of numbers in all of this -- people are smart. People know you can take a look at all of it and that it's still a complicated labor market. Is it getting better and how quickly is it getting better? That's what we look at these numbers to tell us, not to fight about who to vote for.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thanks so much.

Chilly temperatures could affect more than just the weather. It could have a big impact on several crops. We'll tell you what areas of the country could feel the effects the most.

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COSTELLO: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Checking our "Top Stories" now.

Just out a better than expected jobs report. In fact the lowest unemployment rate since President Obama took office; 114,000 jobs were created in September. The jobless rate stands at 7.8 percent, a three tenth of a point drop since August.

The Romney/Ryan campaign released this statement after those numbers came out. It said quote, this is not what a real recovery looks like. We created fewer jobs in September than in August and fewer jobs in August than July and we lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office" end quote.

We're still awaiting a response from the Obama campaign.

The calendar says fall. Oh, but in Colorado, scenes like this may have some people confused about which season they're in. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele joins me now. I don't think anybody is ready for that yet.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, right? It was snowing in Denver, Colorado today. Two days ago it was 80 degrees. But this blue norther came down and precipitously dropped those temperatures. So we saw it, now Denver will get a little bit of snow but it won't be the winter that Badger, Minnesota will have 14 inches; Angus, 8 inches. But Grand Forks and especially through the Dakotas, too, that's where the cold air is in place. The moisture was in place. And we have a freeze threat already. And you can see temperatures in the 20s and 30s for highs.

And how about wind chills, coldest air of the season, feeling like 13 in Minot, feeling like 19 in Bismarck. You're going to see a very clear delineation. Coldest air yet of the season coming down. And there is the warm air today in the southeast.

As we head toward tomorrow, this cold air pushes southeast even further still; 82 in Atlanta. That's Saturday by Sunday getting into the 60s. That's it. D.C., Saturday, 78 but by the time they get to Sunday only in the 50s.

So the air is cold but again also in the upper Midwest, especially Minnesota and North Dakota, the cold and snow is impacting two crops specifically. Soy beans and corn and what we're seeing is this late harvest corn. And of course, Carol, this area has had such an incredible drought. Fifty -- worst drought we've seen in 50 years, so really adding fuel to the fire and making it even tougher for these late harvest corn crops.

COSTELLO: Alexandra thanks so much.

American Airlines still making repairs to the loose seats. We'll tell you how soda and popcorn might be causing those seats to detach in flight.

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COSTELLO: If you're flying on American Airlines today, you might want to check your departure time. Dozens of American Airlines flights expected to be scrubbed as the troubled airline does more repairs on those loose seats; 50 flights were canceled for repairs on Thursday; 44 are expected to be scrubbed today. The airline says the work will be done by Saturday.

And of course, it is all because of this tiny locking bolt -- there it is -- that keeps the seats in place. CNN correspondent George Howell is in Atlanta.

So -- so George, explain to us more about what exactly the problem is.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, good morning.

Basically that is a lock and pin system designed to keep those seats to hold them down to the floor. Now, we're hearing from American Airlines and I want to put all of this in perspective, we've heard several things about what could be the cause of this problem.

American is saying basically putting the blame partly on passengers, saying that it came down to this, came down to coffee, came down to spilled sodas, that accumulated into gunk into these systems and that caused the locks to go into the unlock position. That's first thing they're saying. And that raises several questions like, why is this not happening on other airlines?

But just two days ago, we heard from American and they said that they were clamps that were put on backwards, that were put on twisted. So that's what we heard from them just two days ago.

And we heard from the union. The union pointing the finger at outsourced maintenance work as the cause for this problem. So, clearly, you know, a bad week, a rough week for American Airlines that went into bankruptcy nearly a year ago.

But you see this airline now doubling down on its effort to make sure that it does not happen again. They'd already checked 48 of the 757 jets. They're doing it again and causing delays -- 50 delays yesterday; 44 delays expected today. So that passengers like this woman who did not want to be identified, so that they don't have to go through this again. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The seat flipped backwards. It was actually a complete nightmare. And so people were essentially on the laps of the passengers behind them.

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COSTELLO: Wow. So seriously, American Airlines is now saying it is all because of spilled soda?

HOWELL: Partly to blame. That's what they say. And, again, Carol, it raises the question why is it not happening on other airlines. But American says they're doing everything they can to make sure that these planes are, you know, safe for people that are sitting, who expect to stay in row 12, so that, you know, they can keep the system going.

COSTELLO: George Howell, many thanks.

HOWELL: Yes.

COSTELLO: Red Sox nation suffered through a miserable season. Now Bobby Valentine pays the price. We'll hear from the fired manager next in sports.

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COSTELLO: Going into week five in the NFL, there were three undefeated teams. Now two are left. St. Louis knocked Arizona from the unbeaten last night. Rams quarterback Sam Bradford completed seven passes, but two of them were for scores. In the meantime, the Rams defense was putting pressure on the Cardinals quarterback, Kevin Kolb. He was sacked nine times. Rams win, 17-3.

The troubled tenure of Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine is over. Sox fired Valentine. He was brought in to restore order to the clubhouse after last season's fried chicken and beer debacle. But didn't work out. Beyond Valentine, the Red Sox were plagued by injuries this year and they wound up with their worst record since 1965. Valentine went biking after learning his fate.

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BOBBY VALENTINE, FORMER RED SOX MANAGER: The ownership of this team is terrific. Let me tell you what; John Henry flew up from Florida to make sure that he was here in person, you know, to be with me and us today. And, you know, Tom and Larry, no one cares more than them. And I think they're doing what they think is the right thing to do for the fans. Because this wasn't acceptable. I get that.

Baseball's playoffs begin today with the first ever wild card games. Win or go home. In the National League, the Braves host the Cardinals, first pitch 5:07 p.m. Eastern.