The national unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September from 8.1 percent August with the nation adding 114,000 jobs, according to figures released today by the Labor Department. The unemployment rate remains high by historic standards but is now the lowest it has been since January 2009, when Barack Obama became president.

The unemployment decrease is due to both the public and private sector adding jobs. Drops in the jobless rate over the past couple of years have sometimes come from people being no longer counted as unemployed because they gave up looking for a job.