Economy Wobbles to 80,000 New Jobs, Rate Slips to 9%

The U.S. jobs market remained stuck in neutral during October, with the economy creating just 80,000 new jobs as the stubbornly high unemployment rate nudged lower. Amid few expectations that the employment picture has improved, government numbers Friday confirmed the obvious: The unemployment rate is stuck at 9.0 percent where it likely will be for many months to come.
Still, that was one-tenth of a percent lower than September's rate. The number has vacillated as the labor participation rate has varied.
The total job creation was a bit lower than the 100,000 that economists had expected.
The report comes just days after the Federal Reserve delivered its own body blow, saying the unemployment rate will go no lower than 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent by the end of 2012 and will remain in the 6.8 percent to 7.7 percent through 2014.