"The idea that the economy was on a self-sustaining and uninterrupted path to recovery was doused with a big bucket of cold water today"

So-called "real unemployment" or U-6, which also includes marginally attached and discouraged workers hit 17%, compared to 16.8% last month.

And the work week fell back to a record low of 33 hours, which is inauspicious for future hiring.

SHOOT: The Administrations own figures are far rosier [see below post], and everyone continues to be surprised. Denial means the source is out there, and the painful reality is always much worse when we're lead to believe something is milder than it really is. If the Adminstrations figures are wrong - well, they are - then you can see the scale and scope of our troubles. But it is the same everywhere. Probably, if we were prepared to face the true nature in terms of the economy and energy, there would be mass hysteria.

clipped from finance.yahoo.com "Long story short: the employment report for September was terrible top to bottom [and] the belief held by many that the economy was ready to take off and was a-okay has been proven false, for today at least." Including September's tally, the U.S. has now lost more than 7 million jobs since the recession officially began in December 2007 and payrolls have now declined for 21 consecutive months. A recent poll from the Economic Policy Institute puts a human face on these grim macro numbers: 57% of respondents to a poll say they know either a family member or close friend who's been laid off. Over 60% believe unemployment would be a "very big" or "fairly" big problem a full year from now.