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The unemployment rate has surpassed the 10% mark for the first time since 1983, two months earlier than many had widely predicted. The jobless rate increased to 10.2% in October from 9.8% the month prior.

The Numbers Are Grim

Both the unemployment rate as well as job losses increased in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Widely expected by most analysts, the unemployment rate trended upwards last month to 9.8%, making its way towards the 10% mark expected by many in 2010. Payrolls dropped by 263,000 jobs in September, bringing the grand total of jobs lost since the recession began in December of 2007 to 7.2 million.

September marked the 21st consecutive month of job losses. Even those who have remained employed continue to grapple with diminished work weeks and less hours:

This time around, Wednesday’s ADP private-sector payroll index did provide an accurate indication of what we could expect from today’s report released by the Labor Department. Just as the ADP index foreshadowed, the country, while continuing to lose substantial amounts its workforce, did so at the slowest pace in six months. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate rose to 8.9% — its highest level in over 25 years.

According to the Labor Department, 539,000 jobs were lost in April, 41,000 less than what economists surveyed by MarketWatch.com had predicted. While the slowing pace is a welcome improvement, employment analysts believe the unemployment rate will continue to rise throughout 2009, since joblessness is a “lagging” indicator.

Another 598,000 Americans lost their jobs in January, raising the total to 3.6 million since the recession began in December 2007. With the unemployment rate currently at 7.6%, analysts continue to forecast that the unemployment rate will exceed 9% by 2010.

Opinions aside on whether or not the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” will promptly provide jobs or economic rejuvenation, there are significant measures written in to support the 7.6% of Americans who are currently unemployed:

U.S. stocks rebounded higher this morning on the release of the Department of Commerce’s report that the real Gross Domestic Product contracted less in the third quarter than economists predicted. The news of Exxon Mobil’s record-setting profit margin’s for the third quarter also led to early gains.

We’re not sure yet if the morning’s early gains will continue throughout the afternoon, yet it’s somewhat surprising and encouraging that traders have taken what could have been construed as bad news, but traded on the good. The real GDP — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter, 0.2% less than predictions. A main component behind the contraction of the GDP was the 3.1% drop in consumer spending in the third quarter. Consumer spending alone supports two-thirds of U.S.-economic growth.

Without sounding like a broken record, allow me to impart a small point that emphasizes just how important jobs are to the survival of our economy. According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal:

Every 100,000 payroll jobs lost takes some $3 billion in disposable income away from consumers, estimates Thomas Lee, equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Securities. With 463,000 jobs gone so far this year, that amounts to nearly $14 billion annualized in lost purchasing power.