Unemployment Rate Sharp rose 4 percent in a month

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The U.S. unemployment rate shot up to a 14-year high in October, and the economy had a net loss of 240,000 jobs for the month. The government said on Friday in a report underscoring the economy’s steep slide.

Wall Street economists had expected a loss of 200,000 nonfarm jobs in October and had looked for the jobless rate to move up to 6.3 percent from 6.1 percent in September.

September had the largest monthly job loss total since November 2001, the last month of the previous recession and just two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The disappointing figures follow Thursday’s International Monetary Fund report saying global economic growth will slow sharply, to just over 2 percent in 2009.

So far this year 1.2 million jobs have been lost, 651,000 in the past three months alone, showing labor markets are crumbling faster and heightening chances of a deep recession.