Unemployment rate: 6.5%

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. labor market has collapsed in the past three months, shedding 651,000 jobs and driving the unemployment rate to its highest point in more than 14 years, the Labor Department reported Friday.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 240,000 in October, worse than expected. Payrolls losses in September were revised down sharply to 284,000, the largest job loss in seven years.
Unemployment surged by 603,000 in October to 10.1 million, the highest level in 25 years, according to a survey of households. In the past six months, unemployment has leaped by 2.45 million, the largest increase since 1975.
"A stumbling economy seems to have been kicked down the stairs," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. "This is what a deep recession looks like."
So far in 2008, a total of 1.18 million jobs have been lost, according to the survey of work sites. Payrolls have fallen for 10 straight months. Read the full government report.
The last time the unemployment rate was as high as 6.5% was in March 1994. Most economists believe the jobless rate will probably rise to nearly 8% next year, territory last seen in the early 1980s.