Unemployment Rises As Nation Adds Jobs
DENVER (CBS4) The Labor Department released the newest unemployment numbers today and Colorado residents are having mixed reactions.
The numbers show that the national unemployment rate rose 1/10th of a point to 7.9% in October.
The rise in unemployment comes as a surprise since businesses did add 171,000 jobs last month. The Labor Department says the jobless rate rose because more people are starting to look for jobs again.
One Longmont resident has been job searching for a job for more than a year.
"It's been brutal on my ego. I have been incredibly discouraged." said Melinda Jordan.
However, Jordan is encouraged to get back on her computer and keep applying after seeing the new numbers.
"In the last 4 weeks, I've seen an uptake in job posts." said Jordan.
Andrew Hudson runs a Web site that posts jobs every month in Colorado. Hudson says he was posting 500 to 600 jobs per month a year ago. Now, he has 1,000 available jobs on his site.
But we found not everyone in Colorado is feeling encouraged by these numbers.
"200,000 jobs a month would take around the next 9 years to get all of those who want full time employment to get the jobs we want. No, I don't think it is anything to smile about," wrote Jim Cooley on the CBS Denver Facebook page.
Another Facebook user, Pam Minto, posted, "I'm getting offers for interviews for jobs making less than half of what I was making before I was laid off. Unemployment pays more."
No matter how much unemployment pays, Bill Mitchell, keeps his resume handy for any possible job opportunities. Whether you're feeling confident with the job numbers or not, Mitchell's advice is focus on yourself.
"The most important job numbers are your own, so I want my personal job report to go through the roof as opposed to these incremental changes from the national level." said Mitchell.
This is the last job report to be released before the presidential election on November 6th. Unemployment and economic recovery have been key issues in the current political race.
