Free Republic

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- OCTOBER 2012 Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. _______________________________________________________________________________ | | | Hurricane Sandy | | | |Hurricane Sandy had no discernable effect on the employment and unemployment | |data for October. Household survey data collection was completed before the | |storm, and establishment survey data collection rates were within normal ranges| |nationally and for the affected areas. For information on how unusually...

<p>The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits was mostly unchanged last week, evidence that the struggling economy isn't generating many jobs.</p> <p>Unemployment line The Labor Department says unemployment benefit applications ticked down 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 428,000.</p> <p>Applications have topped 400,000 for 12 straight weeks.</p>

Rocky Mount — Randolph and Sandra Whitehead planned to get out of their small house, buy a car they could depend on and pay their bills. After all, they had just won $250,000 in the state lottery. But those dreams came crashing down when their road to riches took a sudden U-turn. Sandra Whitehead had been waiting for her big break. She has severe asthma, and her husband is on disability. Neither of them work, so they play the lottery. http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1446448/