Jobless rate at six-year high

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 10:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate took another big leap upward in November to 5.7 percent, the highest level in six years, as 331,000 more Americans lost their jobs, the government reported today.

It marked the second consecutive month of massive job losses as the weak economy continued to stagger from the blow delivered by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The government said that since March, when the nation's first recession in a decade began, 1.2 million Americans have lost their jobs.

Economists fear that thousands more will be thrown out of work even if the country is able to mount a sustainable recovery in the first half of next year. Many analysts are forecasting that the jobless rate will peak at 6.5 percent next summer.

That would still be better than the 7.8 percent unemployment level hit during the last recession in 1990-91.

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