The Labor Department reports the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, from 9.7 percent in August.
Employers cut 263,000 jobs in September, more than expected. The job losses were widespread -- 64,000 in construction, 51,000 in manufacturing and 53,000 in government.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a more comprehensive measure of joblessness that includes people who have given up looking for a job out of frustration and who are working part time but want a full-time job, hit 17% in September. That is up from 16.8 percent in August.
Market Watch reports more than a half a million people dropped out of the labor force, and the employment participation rate fell to 65.2%, the lowest in 23 years. The average duration of unemployment rose to 26.2 weeks, a record high.
The jobless recovery is an indication that President Obama's boondoggle stimulus bill was not properly targeted.
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