The dismal jobs front got a bit more good news, following the release of a report showing the nation's employers last year cut the fewest number of workers in more than a decade. Further, the findings showed 2010 ended on a high note, with December recording the lowest number of monthly cuts since 2000.

The slowdown in cuts follows an uptick in activity in 2009 when downsizing reached a seven-year high, according to the 2010 year-end job-cut report, released Wednesday by job-services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Last year, employers announced plans to eliminate 529,973 positions, the lowest number since 1997.

According to William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. economy is becoming healthy. Dudley did caution that it is too early to say we are out of the woods.

The New York Fed president stated that the recovery is "looking sustainable," adding that the capital markets (with the exception of certain securitization markets) "are now generally open for business." Dudley added, "We currently expect that the economy will keep expanding, but at a somewhat slower growth rate than during the second half of 2009 as the temporary boost from the inventory cycle fades and the effects of the stimulus bill gradually weaken."

One statistic and condition that befuddles many Americans concerns the unemployment rate as the economy starts to strengthen.

The puzzler? The unemployment rate almost always rises as the economy gains momentum in the initial stage of the recovery. It leaves many Americans -- and no-doubt more than a few investors -- shaking their heads. How can the economy be strengthening if unemployment is rising?

Is this bad news for the recovery? The Labor Department reported that the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% in October, pushing the rate atop the 10% mark for the first time in 26 years. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 190,000 in October, bringing the total number of jobs sacrificed to the recession to 7.3 million. October was the 22nd straight month that saw payrolls decline. According to MarketWatch, expectations were for an unemployment rate of 10% and 150,000 jobs lost.

Yesterday, I took a look at the weekly jobless claims, suggesting that we could see a substantial drop today if this morning's jobs report came in worse than expected. The report was worse, now let's see if yesterday's "good news" and rally is going to give way to a slump like last Friday.

The unemployment rate increased in 23 states in September, with 43 reporting job losses for the month (though not at an accelerating rate). This does signal that we're (hopefully) in the early stages of an economic recovery ... though this can also mean that some job seekers have just given up (and are no longer counted).

Layoffs have slowed down a bit, but companies aren't crazy about taking on new bodies. So far, 600,000 people have dropped out of the hunt. Unemployment now sits at 9.8%.

Some of the jobs that have disappeared through this recession are gone forever, it seems. Even when the market turns, and even gains momentum, we could be stuck with a fairly weak employment market for a while. The recovery will take longer than we'd like, putting more distance between now and the top of the next market run. We've lost 7.2 million jobs since December 2007, and the predictions of some economists that we'll get them back by 2014 may actually seem optimistic.

Unemployment is at 9.8%, and it's expected to clear 10% early next year. Then, we have the specter of a jobless recovery with which to contend. "Full employment" is often considered to be an unemployment rate of 4% to 5%, but it could be a while before we get there. The last downturn, following the dotcom bust, resulted in a peak unemployment rate of 6.3% in 2003 ... and we're already well past that.

Why is the recovery going to be such a grind? Check out the four major reasons after the jump.

The United States is not alone. We just saw the unemployment rate creep higher to 9.8% for September, and the rest of the world is coming with us.

The worldwide recession is still circling the globe, it seems, leaving slashed jobs in its wake. While the rise in unemployment is essentially a fact of life, how countries are responding to it differs widely. Some are spending aggressively to protect jobs; for example, by chipping in some extra cash to pay for shorter work weeks.

In the 30 countries comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), unemployment is as low as 3.2% in the Netherlands and as high as 17.6% in Spain, as of July 2009.

If you're single, you're 50% more likely to lose your job, according to a study published Friday by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This is no different from most recessions, but neither the stat nor the trend loses its shock value with each downturn. Now that the unemployment rate has edged higher, to 9.8% last month, the plight of singles is worsening.

Single employment fell 4.8% from December 2007 through June, with the married folks losing their jobs at a rate of only 3.1%. In August, the single jobless rate reached 13.5%, while those encumbered with spouses fared much better at 6.3%.

Layoff announcements hit their lowest level since March 2008 last month, signaling market stabilization. Global outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. put the number of cuts at 66,404 for September, a 13% decline from July's 76,456. Year-over-year, the number of layoffs announced is down 30%, and September was the fourth month in a row in which job cuts fell relative to the same month a year earlier.

Planned job cuts reached 240,233 for the third quarter of 2009, according to Challenger, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2008, when there were 200,656 planned layoffs. For the third quarter of this year, job cuts fell 24.5% from the previous quarter's 318,165, and it's off 16.3% from 287,142 in the third quarter of 2009. At the beginning of 2009, the planned layoff rate reached a seven-year high of 578,510. Since then, the planned layoff rate fell 58.5%.

While we may be focused on unemployment in the United States, the loss of jobs has become a truly global affair. Next year, unemployment rates in the industrialized world are expected to hit their highest levels since the second world war, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Projections put the jobless rate for the 30 countries that belong to the OECD at 10% in the second half of 2010, which translates to 57 million people without jobs. Unemployment reached its highest post-war level in June at 8.3%. The organization calls the short-term outlook "grim," especially with the early stages of a recovery next year anticipated to be cautious.

As Joe Lazzaro posted earlier, economists expect the bad times to continue through next year, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.

Here are the low lights:

• The economy will grow at an average 0.7% from July through December, half the gain in the first six months of the year;
• Household spending, which has grown every quarter since 1992, is projected to stall as the impact of the tax rebates fades;
• The jobless rate, now at 5.7 percent, will reach a five-year high of 6 percent in early 2009.

The question is how is this going to play politically.

Will the Democrats use this data to push for a second stimulus bill? Will growing political tensions between Russia and Georgia push up oil prices higher and make matters even worse for consumers? What about the Fed? Will it have to begin raising interest rates? When will the housing market hit bottom?

Only the most cockeyed of optimists can see a light at the end of this tunnel.