263,000 jobs bite the dust...

[eagleseven]

U.S. Sept non-farm payrolls plunge 263,000 - Yahoo! Finance

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to a government report on Friday that fueled fears the weak labor market could undermine economic recovery.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since June 1983 and payrolls had now dropped for 21 consecutive months.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to drop 180,000 in September and the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent the prior month. The poll was conducted before reports, including regional manufacturing surveys, showed some deterioration in employment measures.

The government revised job losses for July and August to show 13,000 more jobs lost than previously reported. Preliminary annual benchmark revisions, released together with September's employment report showed that total non-farm payroll employment for March would have to be revised down about 824,000.

Stubbornly high unemployment is viewed as the missing link in the economy's recovery from its worst recession in 70 years. The economy is believed to have started growing in the third quarter.

Here are the official unemployment percentages for September, believe which one you will...

U-3: 9.8%
U-4: 10.2%
U-6: 17.0%


Yeah, we're still falling into recession. No, the stimulus still isn't working.