unemployment rate

Nearly 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year. The unemployment rate is at its highest level since 1994. Retail sales were dismal last month and for automakers, October was the worst month in more than a quarter-century.

With the unemployment rate rising and a recession mentality gripping the country, more families are applying for federal aid for students attending college.

The unemployment rate is now above 6% for the first time since 2003 and more than 600,000 jobs have been lost so far this year.

The unemployment rate soared to a nearly five-year high in August, topping 6%, as employers trimmed jobs for the eighth straight month, according to the latest government reading Friday that came in weaker than forecasts.

Employers trimmed jobs once again in July and the unemployment rate hit a four-year high, according to a government report Friday that showed the seventh straight month of job losses .

The unemployment rate held steady in June at 5.5 percent, but the last two months have seen 124,000 jobs come off the payroll.

Host Bob Moon looks at the latest numbers.

Economists are forecasting that the unemployment rate retreated slightly in June after May's big spike. But few believe that is a sign that the battered labor market is at or even near the bottom.

More than 49,000 jobs were lost in May, according to the latest government report. That pushed the unemployment rate up half a point to 5.5% -- the biggest increase since 1986.

Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.

The unemployment rate took its biggest jump in more than two decades in May as employers once again cut jobs, according to a government report Friday.

An unemployment rate at 5% used to be called full employment. Today it's considered the sign of a recession.