Employers shed 190,000 jobs in October, the slowest pace since near the beginning of the devastating recession that began in December 2007. The Labor Department also revised its August and September jobless numbers to reflect that 91,000 fewer jobs were lost over those two months than first thought.

Those trends are positive because they suggest that the torrid pace of job losses has slowed. That's supported by recent economic growth numbers that showed 3.5 percent growth from July through September.

In another positive sign, the professional and business services sector added 18,000 jobs in October, indicating that a sector beyond health care and education finally is seeing job growth. Temporary employment, which usually precedes a return to hiring, was up by almost 34,000 in October, the third straight month of gains.

The surge in the unemployment rate, which is now at its highest level since April 1983, is likely to overshadow any good news on the growth front, however.

"You can't see an unemployment rate of 10.2 percent and not be concerned," Christina Romer, the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, acknowledged on CNBC television.

Many economists expected unemployment to hit 10 percent this year, but few thought that it would get this high by October.

"Small and midsized businesses are still shedding workers. Unlike big businesses who have been able to stabilize profits and have access to credit, small and midsized businesses are low on cash and can't get credit," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for forecaster Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. "The job market isn't deteriorating as fast as it was earlier in the year, but it isn't going to improve until next spring at the earliest."

When discouraged workers and underemployed workers are factored in, the unemployment rate stands around 17.5 percent. Most troubling, 35 percent of the jobless, about 5.6 million Americans, have been unable to find work for more than six months.