CSBJ Daily

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 during September, the most in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession.

The Labor Department’s fresh snapshot, released today, also showed that the nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent as hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the work force for any number of reasons.

The reduction in payrolls was much sharper than the 100,000 cuts economists were forecasting. They expected the jobless rate to be unchanged.

It marked the ninth straight month that the economy has lost jobs. The drop underscores fallout from a long slump in the housing market and a dangerous credit crunch that intensified last month throwing Wall Street – and the economy – into chaos.

So far this year, 760,000 jobs have disappeared.