Unemployment Rate Jumps to 6.5%
The U.S. unemployment jumped to 6.5% last month, from 6.1% in September, the Labor Department said Friday.
The rate was the highest since 1994, and payrolls fell by 240,000 jobs, Labor said.
The downturn in jobs followed a revised 248,000 drop in September, bringing the two-month total of job losses to more than half a million, Bloomberg reported.
Economists had forecast a 200,000 jobs decline for October and the unemployment rate was expected to rise to 6.3%, Bloomberg said.
Factory payrolls plunged by 90,000, the biggest in more than five years, which exceeded the 65,000-drop forecast by economists.
Service industries cut 108,000 workers after cutting 201,000 jobs in September, Labor said.
