U.S. Unemployment at 10.2%
November 6, 2009 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Jobs, Work
In a rather dour Friday morning surprise, the U.S. unemployment rate hit 10.2%. There have been predictions for months that the unemployment rate would exceed 10%, but as the economy started showing signs of life, hope was emerging along the lines of thinking that maybe that 
psychologically important level could be avoided. This morning’s non-farms payroll data destroyed all such thoughts.
However, even though the news sent stocks a little lower initially, they are inching up, desperate to remain in the black, even with the news. Even though the unemployment rate is higher, job loss is moving at a slower pace, and there are fewer lost jobs last month than the month before. However, the fact that 190,000 jobs were lost in October was still higher than the 150,000 expected.
This means that the Fed is looking justified in its comments earlier this week that the economy still needs some help, and that interest rate hikes — and an end to quantitative easing — won’t come until sometime next year. And if things don’t pick up in the labor market soon, it may be 2011 before we can start serious talking about interest rate increases.
Image source: Daylife
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