New figures from the Labor Department show 240,000 jobs were lost in October pushing the national unemployment rate up to 6.5 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job losses over the last 3 months totaled 651,000 and, so far this year, payroll employment has decreased by 1.2 million.

The biggest losses in the month were in manufacturing (90,000 jobs) and construction (49,000).