PEMBERTON, N.J. (AP) — Reports of rising inflation and weak gains in wages kept the paycheck

PEMBERTON, N.J. (AP) — Reports of rising inflation and weak gains in wages kept the paycheck struggles of Americans at the center of the presidential campaign Friday.

Republican John McCain sought to frame an economic policy that defends extending President Bush’s tax cuts but embraces quick measures that the president opposes.

Democrat Barack Obama, benefiting from public disapproval of Bush’s economic policies, has continued to link McCain to Bush.

The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent last month. It was the biggest one-month increase since last November, pushed up by surging gasoline costs. After adjusting for inflation, weekly earnings for nonsupervisor workers were down 1.2 percent in May, compared with a year ago, the department said in a separate report.

The economy is trumping Iraq as the top issue facing the country, a circumstance that places McCain at a distinct disadvantage. The public splits between him and Obama as to who could handle Iraq best, but Obama is viewed as the best one to handle the economy.

With the unemployment rate in May jumping to 5.5 percent, McCain said Friday that he would support extending jobless assistance and that he was willing to discuss other short-term measures to boost the economy. He did not rule out another economic stimulus package this year.

“I support extension of unemployment benefits; I think we should do that now,” he told reporters after a town hall meeting in Pemberton, N.J. “I think we should explore a number of options.”

Bush and Republican congressional leaders have opposed the jobless benefits extension. Meanwhile, Obama has proposed a new $50 billion economic stimulus package.

But McCain also argued for continuing President Bush’s tax cuts, most of which are set to expire in 2010. Failure to extend them, he noted, would result in tax increases.

Obama has proposed tax cuts for low- and middle-income taxpayers, but would restore pre-Bush tax rates to the wealthiest Americans.

The Labor Department reports came in a week that Obama had set aside to feature his economic plan. At the same time, an independent, liberal-leaning think tank, the Tax Policy Center, issued an analysis of the candidates’ tax plans that concluded that McCain’s would primarily benefit very high-income taxpayers, while Obama’s would increase taxes for the wealthiest.

McCain said that in extending Bush’s reductions in capital gains taxes, he would spur economic activity that would actually raise government revenue.

The Tax Policy Center concluded that Obama’s would offer much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers than McCain’s would.