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Investigations have begun into whether unemployment numbers heading into the 2012 U.S. presidential election were manipulated.

The jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.8% in September 2012 from 8.1% the month earlier, the Labor Department reported on Oct. 5 of that year, one month before the presidential election. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg at the time projected an increase to 8.2%.

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The report at the time also showed employment in the household survey conducted by the Census Bureau jumped by 873,000 in October, the biggest gain since June 1983, excluding the annual Census population adjustments.

Jack Welch, the former chief executive officer of General Electric Co. charged in October 2012 that the unemployment report had been manipulated to help President Barack Obama’s re-election effort. He was attacked for his suggestion with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis saying the accusation was “ridiculous”.