The unemployment rate likely rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 9.9%, which would be the highest in 26 years. Some analysts are predicting a 10% or even a 10.1% jobless rate in October.
The faint silver lining is that, according to the survey of economists conducted by MarketWatch, seasonally adjusted payroll losses are projected to decline from 263,000 in September to just 150,000 in October, which would be the fewest jobs lost since July 2008. At its worst point, the economy was shedding about 700,000 jobs a month.
So far during the recession, a total of 7.2 million jobs have been lost, including 5.8 million in the past year. One in 20 private-sector jobs have disappeared.
As grim as those numbers are, they likely understate the number of jobs lost by about 800,000, according to the preliminary estimate for the annual benchmark based on tax records.
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