Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%

Jillian Bandes | November 06, 2009 10:24 AM

It's higher than the 9.9% economists had expected, representing 190,000 jobs lost in October. But that doesn't even count the number of people who are reluctantly working fewer hours because they can't find steady work. Considering those people -- the "real" unemployment rate

is estimated at 15.6%.

I'd take a sec to point out that it's not just 190,000 people who have lost jobs. It's those people, plus their families -- their wives, their children, anyone else who might be relying on them for support. It affects the local restaurant owner that won't get that person's business every month, or the once-a-week cleaning lady who's wages are cut back because that person can't afford her anymore.

Obama continues to maintain that over 640,000 have been "saved or created" by federal stimulus dollars. But 7.3 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of last year.