DPA | 07 Nov, 2009
The US unemployment rate surged to 10.2 percent in October, the highest in 26 years, as another 190,000 people lost their jobs during the month, officials said Friday.

The figure reported by US Labour Department came after the 9.8 percent jobless rate in September. The worst-hit sectors were construction, manufacturing and the retail trade, the department said.

Unemployment has now climbed above 10 percent for the first time since 1983. The rise was worse than expected - economists predicted 175,000 jobs lost and a 9.9-percent rate in October.

The jobless rate had been expected to continue rising even as the US economy appears to have pulled out of its deep recession. The economy grew by an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009.