Biggest jobless jump since '86 -- Wall Street sinks

Friday June 6, 4:17 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer Jobless rate zooms to biggest increase in decades; stocks plunge nearly 400 points WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pink slips piled up and jobs disappeared into thin air in May as the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in the biggest one-month jump in decades. Wall Street swooned, and the White House said President Bush was considering new proposals to revive the economy.

Help-wanted signs are vanishing along with jobs, so the unemployment rate is likely to keep climbing, a government report indicated, underscoring the toll the housing and credit crises are taking on jobseekers, employers and the economy as a whole.

Adding to the pain, oil prices soared to a new record high, while the value of the dollar fell.

The Dow Jones industrials tumbled almost 400 points.