159K jobs lost in September, most in 5 years
The grim unemployment numbers the campaigns had been awaiting arrive this morning with a thud, another reminder of how much the economy is consuming the campaign. And absent a major national security event, it's tough to see how it doesn't stay that way for the final month:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession.
The Labor Department's fresh snapshot, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent as hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the work force for any number of reasons.
The reduction in payrolls was much sharper than the 100,000 cuts economists were forecasting. They expected the jobless rate to be unchanged.
It marked the ninth straight month that the economy has lost jobs. The drop underscores fallout from a long slump in the housing market and a dangerous credit crunch that intensified last month throwing Wall Street -- and the economy -- into chaos.
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159K jobs lost in September, most in 5 years
By Jonathan Martin 09:00 AM
October 03, 2008
Categories: Misc
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