The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October -- the highest in 26 years -- up from 9.8 percent the month before. President Obama called the return to double-digit joblessness "sobering," even though the economy has started growing again, signaling an end to the recession. How much worse can the unemployment rate get? (watch an Associated Press report on unemployment topping 10 percent)
It's going to get worse: "It’s beginning to look like America’s unemployment rate is going to get worse before it gets better," says Laurent Belsie in The Christian Science Monitor. That will increase pressure on President Obama and Congress to create more jobs. But economists aren't so worried -- the unemployment rate is volatile, but steadier employment data suggests "the 22-month rise in unemployment is slowing appreciably."
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