For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession - until now.

Figures released on Friday by the U. S. Labor Department showed more than one out of every six workers or a total of 17.5 percent of the workforce were unemployed or underemployed in October, eclipsing the record-high total of 17.1 percent in December 1982 which were the worst figures since the Great Depression.

This includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.

The official jobless rate is at 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September but remains lower than the early 1980s peak of 10.8 percent.

Even though some companies have cut the pay of workers, the average hourly wage has still risen 1.5 to 2.5 percent over the last year, depending on which government survey is examined.

It is a strange combination: workers who still have a job are doing better than in other deep recessions, but the unemployment and underemployment have risen to their highest level since the Depression.