Unemployment: 6.1 percent and rising

John McCain promised wage insurance for out-of-luck Americans Thursday night. No time like the present!

Published September 5, 2008 1:03PM (EDT)

Unemployment jumped from 5.7 to 6.1 percent in August, matching its worst mark since 2003. According to the Department of Labor, the economy shed another 84,000 jobs in August. For those keeping count at home, that's 605,000 jobs lost in 2008.

On Thursday night, in what represents a breakthrough of sorts for Republicans, John McCain spoke favorably of a plan to provide some measure of "wage insurance" for Americans who lose high paying jobs and replace them with low paying work.

Good timing.


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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2008 Elections Globalization How The World Works Unemployment U.s. Economy