Tom Murphy
Newswire21.org

The unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent during October for the first time in a quarter century as 15.7 million people sought jobs and millions more gave up finding work in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Most economists expect the rate to rise further, perhaps to 10.5 percent, before companies start to hire more workers in the United States. The economy lost at least 190,000 jobs last month, according to the adjusted figures used by the Labor Department. That was worse than expected.

Including discouraged workers who've stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate is 17.5 percent. 

President Obama signed a bill to provide an additional $24 billion in stimulus funding, including a 20-week extension in unemployment benefits for those unable to find work. In normal times, unemployment benefits are limited to 26 weeks, but have been extended now up to 99 weeks.

About one-third of those still looking for work have been looking for more than six months.

"The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader from Maryland.

Jobless Recovery
Although some data indicates the recession itself is winding down, it appears to be doing so without creating new jobs. Indeed, jobs are still being cut as companies seek more efficient work models for the challenging economy. The government estimated last week that the US economy grew by 3.5 percent in the last quarter, largely because of the infusion of tens of billions of dollars in government stimulus funding.

"It's not a good report," Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co., told The AP. "What we're seeing is a validation of the idea that a jobless recovery is perfectly on track ... You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down."

With 78 million baby boomers heading towards the ends of their careers with insufficient savings, many - perhaps most - are expected to remain in the workforce, creating unprecedented competition for  a smaller number of jobs in coming years.

As those older workers burn through their limited retirement savings, they will also create demand for more government services, placing new burdens on a smaller number of younger taxpayers.