Unemployment rate shot up to 10.2 per cent in October, its highest level in over 26 years

SHOOT: Depression level is considered above 10%.

clipped from www.ft.com The unemployment rate shot up to 10.2 per cent in October, its highest level in over 26 years as the economy shed another 190,000 jobs, according to official data released on Friday, underscoring concerns that the labour market will remain weak even as the economy begins to grow. ”The bottom line is that although labour market deterioration is clearly not occurring at the pace suffered late in 2008 and early this year, conditions remain brutal,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist at MFR. ”Moreover, we continue to believe that the healing process will be a slow one, and that households will be contending with weak income growth and balance sheet issues for some time.” October marks the economy’s twenty-second consecutive month of job losses. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, 8.2 million Americans have lost their jobs. The number of jobs lost was about a quarter of its peak of 741,000 in January, and at its lowest level since August 2008.