U.S. jobless rate reaches 9.8% in September ?

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in September, the highest since June 1983, as employers cut far more jobs than expected. The report is evidence that the worst recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain and underscores one of the biggest threats to the nascent economic recovery: that consumers, worried about job losses and stagnant wages, will restrain spending. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the nation’s economy. The Labor Department says the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. That’s worse than Wall Street economists’ expectations of 180,000 job losses, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. The unemployment rate rose from 9.7% in August, matching expectations. The report also points to an uneven economic rebound, analysts said. If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the unemployment rate rose to 17%, the highest on records dating from 1994. According to a separate report today, U.S. factory orders fell in August by the largest amount in five months.