10% Unemployment Here to Stay: Poll

Those fears are not unfounded. Just see some of the employer names that have littered reports and headlines with job cut news in recent days and weeks: Microsoft(MSFT), RealNetworks (RNWK), Time Warner(TWX), Boeing(BA), Sun Microsystems(JAVA) and US Airways(LCC).

One reader left a comment, questioning how job growth is even going to get jump-started. "I do not see any major drivers making companies hire more people," says a commentor with the handle TOMBROCKS. "Industrial activities are still at a low and in the service sector one can squeeze out of the existing workforce more because of the fear factor."

That reader might be on to something. Before releasing the jobs report, on Thursday the Labor Department boosted market sentiment with news that productivity jumped by a whopping annual rate at 9.5% in the third quarter. In other words, the report hinted that firms have already figured out how to slash payrolls, cut costs, and do more with less, fueling the anguish of the nation's jobless recovery.

By the end of the day on Friday, the markets had largely shrugged off the 10.2% rate, instead focusing on more positive cues like the better-than-expected downward revisions in payroll cuts for August and September. In fact, all three major indices ended higher on Friday, with the Dow closing above 10,000 for the second straight day.

Even more discouraging, when accounting for all those who stopped looking for work or are underemployed, the so-called real unemployment rate hit a massive 17.5%.

-- Written by Sung Moss in New York

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