Rising unemployment no surprise for job seekers

From the middle-aged financial services veteran who's gone from a six-figure income to living with his parents to a Jersey City, N.J., author waiting tables, Friday's Labor Department report showing the nation's jobless rate at a 14-year high and rising was sobering--but not surprising.

The October figures reflect a spreading economic crisis, one that last month overtook a wide range of well-known companies. Businesses like Whirlpool Corp. and PepsiCo Inc. cut jobs, as did new-economy leaders like eBay Inc. and Yahoo Inc. On Friday, there was more bad news as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. reported bleak earnings and further rounds of layoffs.

Since the year began, 1.2 million jobs have been lost--and more than half in the past three months.

The people behind the statistics are preparing for things to get worse before they get better.

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CINCINNATI--Jeffrey Wilson basked in the multiyear boom of financial services. He moved from job to job, and climbed his way to a six-figure income.

Today, the 45-year-old father of two teenage sons lives with his parents in the house he grew up in. He doesn't have a car anymore, having sold his after losing his job nine months ago.

Wilson's last job in the mortgage industry where he had prospered for 17 years seemed safe enough, even in a slowing economy.

That was before the precipitous financial system meltdown cast an unflattering spotlight on his former employer: American International Group Inc., the massive insurance company that the federal government recently had to prop up with more than $120 billion.