September Jobless Rate: Even Worse Than It Looks
September’s jobs numbers are worse than we thought even a few hours ago. After a couple of months of encouraging news, the latest report took a decided turn for the worse.
The basic data show that the nation lost 263,000 jobs in September, after falling 463,000 in June, 304,000 in July and 201,000 in August. The official unemployment rate now is 9.8 percent, a figure exceeded in awfulness only by the unofficial jobless rate: 17 percent.
In fact, the number of unemployed rose “only” by 214,000 because 571,000 people abandoned the labor market.
