Jobs Data

The US labor market has shed 651,000 jobs and driven the unemployment rate to 6.5%, its highest point in more than 14 years. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 240,000 in October, worse than expected. Payrolls losses in September were revised down sharply to 284,000, the largest job loss in seven years. Unemployment surged by 603,000 in October to 10.1 million, the highest level in 25 years. In the past six months, unemployment has leaped by 2.45 million, the largest increase since 1975. So far in 2008, a total of 1.18 million jobs have been lost, according to the survey of work sites. Payrolls have fallen for 10 straight months.