The Unemployment rate is still low, but it is rising at a rapid clip. From the New York Times…

The unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, its highest level in five years, pushing the troubles of American workers to the center of the political debate as the presidential campaign enters its final weeks.

For the eighth consecutive month, the nation’s employers shed jobs, 84,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. In all, 605,000 jobs have been lost since January. The steady rise in unemployment, from 5.7 percent in July and 5 percent in April, is one that many economists associate with recession.

Brad Delong has a chart of a broader measure of unemployment known as U6. It will give you an idea of how rapid the rise in unemployment has been in the first part of 08