The number of people in the United States who lost their jobs in October fell in October from September.

According to an article on Reuters, “the Labor Department said the 2,127 mass layoff actions reported in October — defined as job cuts involving at least 50 people from a single employer — was down 434 from September. The layoffs affected 217,182 workers, down from 248,006 in September. Mass layoff events were down by 77 from October 2008.”

Experts say the labor market is showing signs of hitting bottom and could begin re-stabilizing in the first or second quarter of 2010.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, the highest it has been in 26 years.
The Department of Labor reports that there has been a total of 49,357 layoffs reported since December 2007.

Unemployment has hit 10.2 percent in the United States, according to an article in the New York Times.

This is the highest it has been in 26 years.

The United States Labor Department reported on Friday, Nov. 6 that another 190,000 jobs were lost in October.

In the United States, one out of every 10 people of the workforce are unemployed.

While economists say things are getting better, employers will likely still be wary to hire for at least into the middle of next year and perhaps longer.

According to the article, Republicans speculate that increased joblessness is a result of the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus package aimed at jump-starting the economy. At the same time, some Democrats are calling for another round of spending to help create more jobs.

An economist commenting on National Public Radio this week, said the unemployment rate is really more like 16 percent when you include people who are unemployed that have not filed for unemployment or who are “underemployed:” those who wish to work full-time but can only get part-time work.

“People are hurting, but if you can get past the sticker shock of the unemployment rate and look at the guts of the report, they are still very consistent with a recovery,” said Michael T. Darda, chief economist at the research and trading firm MKM Partners in the New York Times. “We’re getting very close to the peak unemployment rate.”