After receiving poor marks for his performance in his nationally-televised debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama received a much-needed boost from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report showing that unemployment fell to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest it has been in nearly four years.

The September report released last week is significant because, unlike in previous months, the rate did not drop because “discouraged workers” dropped out of the labor force.

Not all of the news was encouraging. Even though the unemployment rate for blacks dropped to 13.4 percent in September from 14.1 percent in August, it remained relatively flat for black men (14.2 percent in September vs. 14.3 percent in August).

The unemployment rate for white men decreased from 6.8 in August to 6.6 percent in September. The jobless rate for white women ticked down two-tenths in September to 6.3 percent. Black women saw the biggest decrease in the unemployment rate among adults, falling from 12 percent in August to 10.9 percent in September.

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“It’s a very mixed picture. I wouldn’t say that we’ve turned the corner, but I would say that unemployment rate is down some, but we still have a large amount of people working part-time for economic reasons,” said Wilhemina Leigh, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a public policy think tank.

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For many black men, the same set of circumstances that will prevent them from voting in the November 6 presidential election also block their ability to earn a living wage.

“A felony conviction is like an economic death sentence,” said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The number and types of jobs are significantly reduced for ex-felons, said Bositis. Even though some companies have special programs to help ex-offenders return to the job market, they can’t keep pace in some southern states where 20 percent of blacks have prior felony convictions.

Read more at The Charlotte Post.