In an interview with Time magazine, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney pledged six percent unemployment by the end of his first term in office. 
 
 “I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we’d put in place, we’d get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent, and perhaps a little lower,” he told Mark Halperin. 
 
 Unemployment currently stands at 8.1 percent. 
 
 Romney first pledged 5.9 percent unemployment when he released his economic plan in September of 2011, but he has not repeated the number since. 
 
 The candidate said earlier this month, when April job numbers were released, that “anything near 8 percent or over 4 percent is not cause for celebration.” 
 
 Setting a high-profile, specific goal could be risky for Romney should he win this fall. But during the campaign, it’s a specific, ambitious marker he can use to highlight what he believes to be the failed economic policies of the current president. And current CBO and OMB projections suggest unemployment will fall to about 6 percent in 2016. 
 
 Romney and other Republicans have repeatedly claimed that Obama promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent. That number was a projection from Obama’s economic advisers outlining various stimulus scenarios, written before the president took office. 
 
 Should he win, Romney said he hopes to start working on the economy right away. “My preference would be to have the opportunity to do that after the election as opposed to have the President in a lame-duck session try and create a solution that may not be in keeping with the new administration,” he said. 
 
 Asked if he welcomed scrutiny of his record at the private equity firm Bain Capital, Romney replied that he would focus on Obama’s record. 
 
 “[T]he American people are interested in, not so much in the history of where I was at Bain Capital, or that I have understanding of the private sector, but instead, has the President made things better for the American people?” he said. But, Romney added, “having been in the private sector for twenty five years gives me a perspective on how jobs are created.” ||||| 6 years ago 
 
 (CNN) - After repeatedly pinning the president for the unemployment level, which now sits at 8.1%, Mitt Romney pledged he could cut the rate by two points if he makes it to the White House. 
 
 "I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6%, and perhaps a little lower," the presumptive GOP nominee said in a TIME interview published Wednesday. 
 
 
 
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 The number marked the first time Romney had talked about a specific rate during this election cycle, although he listed 5.9% as the number he would strive for in his 59-point economic plan released in September. 
 
 And economic forecasts suggest he may not be too far off. Based on the current rate of growth, the jobless rate is expected to fall to around 7% by the end of 2015, and 5.5% by the end of 2017, according to reports by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office. 
 
 Romney has used the unemployment rate as a main line of attack against President Barack Obama. His campaign frequently points to a 2009 interview in which the president said if his administration could not get the economy turned around in three years, "then there is going to be a one-term proposition." 
 
 At the worst of the recession, the unemployment rate reached 10% in October 2009, nine months after Obama took office. It has gradually dropped to its current rate at just over 8%, though some experts attribute the lower rate to the fact that more Americans are leaving the workforce. 
 
 The CBO expects the rate to remain above 8% for the rest of this year and next year. 
 
 In a conference call Wednesday, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt pointed to those predictions in criticizing Romney's statement. 
 
 "Government economists have been clear that under current law their projection today is that unemployment will hit 6% by that point," LaBolt said. 
 
 He went on to cite recent remarks in which Romney, chiding the president for his job creation record, said any unemployment figure above 4% was not worth celebrating. 
 
 "What I think was interesting about this is that Romney moved goal posts in a matter of weeks," LaBolt said. "He said he was going to get it down to 4% several weeks ago, now he's at 6%, he's already moved the goal posts on a critical promise he made." 
 
 In his previous remarks, Romney did not explicitly say he would reduce the unemployment rate to 4%. At a campaign stop in Pittsburgh in May, he said "anything over 8%, anything near 8%, anything over 4% is not cause for celebration." 
 
 Also see: 
 
 Obama campaign expands Bain attack and general election ad buys 
 
 Poll: Romney takes lead in Florida 
 
 Palin endorses Utah's Hatch in Senate race 
 
 Arkansas, Kentucky primaries pose challenge for Obama ||||| In a 36-minute Wednesday Manhattan interview with Mark Halperin, Romney pushes back on President Obama’s Bain attack, predicts he can drive unemployment down to six percent by the end of his first term and says he wants Washington to sit still during the lame-duck session. 
 
 Romney contrasts his record at Bain Capital with President Obama’s record in office. 
 
 Romney explains how his business background makes him better qualified to be Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Part One: 
 
 
 
 Part Two: 
 
 GOP frontrunner says he will have unemployment down to six percent by the end of his first term. 
 
 Read Romney’s complete answer on Bain Capital here. 
 
 Read the candidate on the fiscal cliff here. 
 
 Read the complete transcript of the interview here.
– Talk about an ambitious campaign promise: Mitt Romney today assures the American people that should he be elected, the unemployment rate would fall to 6% during his first term. "I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6%, and perhaps a little lower," he tells Time in an interview picked up by CNN and the Washington Post. The Congressional Budget Office expects the unemployment level, currently at 8.1%, to remain above 8% through next year. But based on the current rate of growth, it is predicted to hit 7% by the end of 2015 and 5.5% by the end of 2017, meaning Romney may actually see his dream come true—regardless of whether he's elected. While Romney has mentioned a specific unemployment goal before—5.9% when he released his economic plan—he hasn't repeated that number since September 2011.