There are some positive signs in Friday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% – a 26 year high – but you have to look hard to find them.

There’s an interesting juxtaposition between the employment report and the statement issued Wednesday by the Federal Open Market Committee in which the FOMC twice referenced inflation (instead of the usual single mention) and hinted strongly it would look at inflation rather than growth in setting monetary policy. The slower pace of job losses. 99,000 (factoring in the revisions to August and September) would be a sign of a turn, though not necessarily growth.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to get away from the fact that one of every 10 Americans over the age of 16 who wants a job doesn’t have one. Even worse, when you count the number of people “marginally attached” to the labor force – not looking for work or “under-employed” – that ratio changes to one of every six.

 And, the situation could get worse before it gets better:

Here are some important highlights of Friday’s report:

• Total payroll jobs fell 190,000 – exceeding consensus forecasts of about 175,000 job losses – bringing the total number of payroll jobs to the lowest level since March 2004
•  The unemployment rate rose to 10.2% – the highest unemployment rate since April 1983. The 0.4 percentage point increase was the steepest since May when the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4% from 8.9%
• The alternative measure of labor utilization – unemployed and “marginally attached” workers – rose to 17.5%, the highest level since this measure began in January 1994.
• The month-month decrease in payroll jobs in October was the 22nd in a row, the longest streak since BLS record-keeping began in 1948; in the 1981-82 recession payrolls contracted for 17 straight months, from August 1981 through December 1982.
• Payroll job losses for August and September were revised to be higher than previously reported by a combined 91,000.
• Private sector payrolls fell 190,000 in October, the 22nd consecutive monthly decline, 11,000 more than September when the private sector shed a revised (from 210,000) 179,000 jobs. Private sector payrolls are at the lowest level since August 2003.
• The total labor force, though, fell on a year-year basis for the fourth month in a row, the longest year-year decline since November 1961 through March 1962 (five months)
• The labor force participation rate – 66.1% when the recession began – was 65.1. Without the drop in the labor force over the course of the recession, amounting to 2.3 million workers, the unemployment rate would have been 11.5%
• Since the recession began in December 2007, the unemployment rate has more than doubled from 4.9%.
• The number of people (16 years of age and older) unemployed – out of work and looking for a job – increased 558,000 in October to 15,700,000, the highest total on record. According to the most recent report from the Department of Labor on unemployment insurance, about 9.8 million people are collecting benefits (under regular and extended programs) which means about 5.9 million people are officially unemployed but not receiving any benefits.
• Since the recession began, the number of people counted as unemployed has increased 8.16 million, more than the number of people unemployed in December 2007 – 7,541,000.
• Long-term unemployment (out of work of 27 weeks or more) increased to 5.6 million from 5.4 million in September (and 2.3 million a year ago). Long-term unemployment represents 35.7% of all unemployed, and the long term unemployment rate itself, as a percentage of the labor force, is 4.3%.
• The number of people working – which differs from the number of jobs – fell 589,000 to 138,275,000, the lowest level since October 2003.
• Since the recession began, the number of people working has fallen 7,019,000, a drop of 5.5%. The month-month decline in employment, though, was less than in September and matched the three month moving average; During the July 1981-November 1982 recession, jobs fell 3.1%.
• The employment-population ratio, measuring the percentage of the over-16 population with jobs, dropped to 58.5% (41.5% without jobs) – the lowest since October 1983. Since the recession began, the employment-population ratio is down 4.2 percentage points.
• Average weekly earnings – a function of average weekly hours and average hourly earnings – rose 0.3% after a 0.2% drop in September as average hour earnings increased 5 cents but average weekly hours were flat.
• Only two industry sectors gained jobs in October: Health Care and Education
• The industry sectors with the greatest number of job losses were
  • Construction: 62,000 (3-month average: down 65,000)
  • Manufacturing: 61,000 (3-month average: down 54,000)
  • Retail: 40,000 (3-month average: down 35,000)
  • Leisure and hospitality: 37,000 (3-month average: down 18,000)
  • Other services: 12,000 (3-month average: down 11,000)
  • Financial activities: 8,000 (3-month average: down 13,000),  including 1,600 loan underwriters
• Government employment total was unchanged (3 month average: down 9,000)
  • Local governments shed 16,000 jobs

Mark Lieberman is the senior economist for the Fox Business Network. Prior to joining FOX, he served as first vice president and manager of economic analysis and research at Washington Mutual in New York. Before that, he served as senior vice president at Dime Savings Bank of New York (which was later acquired by Washington Mutual), where he specialized in credit and risk management. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New York Association for Business Economics. He has a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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