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Unemployment Hits 14 Year High

Published 11/18/08 Dustin Ensinger - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

Unemployment has reached a 14 year high of 6.5 percent, according to the Labor Department.

In Oct. 651,000 jobs were shed, leading to a total of 10.1 million Americans out of work and seeking unemployment benefits. On the year, 1.18 million jobs have been lost.

In the past six months, those seeking unemployment benefits increased by 2.45 million. Another 603,000 were added to the unemployment rolls in Oct.

Oct. marks the tenth consecutive month that payrolls have fallen, providing further evidence of the deep recession the U.S. is facing. Some analysts predict that by early next year the unemployment rate will rise to 8 percent.

Some of the hardest hit industries were manufacturing, which lost 90,000 jobs during the month, and construction where 49,000 jobs were shed.

"A stumbling economy seems to have been kicked down the stairs," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. "This is what a deep recession looks like."

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