Unemployment Hits 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 market opened down but as we close in on the noon hour the Dow is only down 29 points and the S&P 500 is down 5.48 points.

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 percent of the nation's economy.

The Labor Department said Friday that 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 percent in August, matching expectations.