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US unemployment rate hits at 9.8 percent

The US jobless rate surged to 9.8 percent in November, a hammer blow to the economic recovery and to President Barack Obama's hopes for a quick end to high unemployment. The world's largest economy created many fewer jobs than expected and the unemployment rate rose from 9.6 percent to its highest level since April, the Labor Department reported. A measly 39,000 jobs were created during the month, well short of the 130,000 predicted by economists and well beneath the levels needed to dent unemployment rates. Job losses in the retail and manufacturing sector led the decline as the employment market once again proved unable to untether itself from the long-ended recession. The jobless rate has remained above nine percent for the last 19 months, leaving more than 15 million jobseekers unemployed. The White House, under pressure to prove its economic policies are working, acknowledged the unemployment rate was "unacceptably high." Massive government stimulus p