The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to a 26-1/2-year high of 10.2 percent last month, adding to pressure on the Obama administration to do more to tackle unemployment even as signs of recovery mount.
The Labor Department said on Friday that employers cut 190,000 jobs in October, more than the 175,000 markets had expected but fewer than the 219,000 lost in September.
Taking some of the sting out of the report, job losses for August and September were revised to show 91,000 fewer jobs were lost than previously reported.
While that hinted at some improvement in labor market conditions, economists had looked for the jobless rate to rise to 9.9 percent from September's 9.8 percent.
"Unfortunately, the problem is becoming deeper and more protracted," Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of bond giant Pacific Investment Management told Reuters. "It's not just the increase in the headline number. ... It's also about the longer-term nature of unemployment, the increase in underemployment, and the prospect for only a very gradual recovery."
Stocks erased early losses on the heels of the report, somewhat heartened by a lessening in the pace of monthly job losses. The report lifted prices for U.S. government bonds and the flight to safer assets initially boosted the U.S. dollar, but it later fell back.
President Barack Obama has called job creation priority No. 1, but his scope to take further steps to lift the economy is limited by record budget deficits.
Mounting unemployment could pose problems for the Democrats who control Congress as they head into congressional elections in November 2010. This week, Republicans wrested control of two state governorships away from Democrats in races where the weak economy figured prominently.
"President Obama promised jobs during his campaign for president, and the elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday were a clear referendum on his failure to deliver on this promise," said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. READ MORE...
OBAMA- Uh, I'm a community organizer and studied Marxism my entire life Joe, I don't know how to create jobs. I figured I could just print some cash and throw money at that problem and it would be fixed, and if it didn't work, so be it, the more unemployed and the more government dependency, the more power I have and pretty soon, Marxism will rule, just like my professors and my friends Bill Ayers and Jerimiah Wright always told me it would.
BIDEN- You ain't kidding Barry, you really threw a lot of cash at that problem. Hey Tony! How ya doing?!?
OBAMA- But wait! We created and saved a gazillion jobs with the (failed) stimulus, right Joe?
BIDEN- Uh, uh, well, those numbers weren't exactly accurate Barry. We were off a little, no, we were off a lot! Hey Johnny from Scranton! How ya doing?!?
OBAMA- Um, well, uh, just run with those numbers anyway because most Americans are still dumb, the media still has my back and people still love me! Now, let's spend some more money.
The breaking of the psychologicial barrier of double-digit unemployment numbers has sobered up some of Obama'a biggest kool-aid drinkers----said Jenny Snell on CNN, no less---(their is no bigger supporter of Obama then me, but I grow more concerned every day that I may lose my job. I thought by now Obama would simply start taking more money from the rich and given it to the people who need it more)----it seemed from the interview that the gushing approval of Obama was over.
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