Jobless Rate Hits Five-Year High

The nation's unemployment rate has soared to a five-year high, as employers slashed 84,000 jobs in August. The jobless rate jumped from 5.7% in July to 6.1% in August. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 100 points in morning trading as investors' hopes dimmed for a late-in-the-year recovery, Wall Street was not alone in its quick response. Both presidential candidates took the opportunity to criticize each other on economic policy. Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, is author of Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?