Washington - The US economy continued to shed jobs in the construction, manufacturing, retail and government branches, with the unemployment rate rising to 9.8 per cent, the US government said Friday. The rate compared to 9.7 per cent unemployment in August.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has nearly doubled to 15.1 million people.
Earlier this week, there were signs that the recession was easing, with US economic growth shrinking by only 0.7 per cent - the best performance in more than a year.
Economists have anticipated that improvements in the labour market would lag behind the overall economic performance figures. But continuing high unemployment figures prevent a rise in consumer spending that makes up more than two-thirds of the US economy.
