WASHINGTON (MCT) — Employers added 114,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate tumbled sharply to 7.8 percent, the government said Friday in a closely watched jobs report just weeks away from presidential elections.

The employment numbers were in the ballpark of consensus forecasts, but the jobless rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 7.8 percent, going below where it stood when President Barack Obama took office. The administration has been criticized for an unemployment rate above 8 percent for the balance of the president’s term.