President Barack Obama is facing a rising threat from potentially his toughest re-election opponent: the American economy.

The Labor Department reported yesterday that job growth slowed to 54,000 in May, down from 232,000 in April and the smallest gain in eight months. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent, the highest level this year.

The public right now is pessimistic. The proportion of Americans who believe they will be better off in 10 years dropped from 72 percent in 2009 to 54 percent this year, according to a survey by the Pew Economic Mobility Project.

Read the full article at bloomberg.com.