THE SPEED WITH WHICH UNEMPLOYMENT HAS TURNED 180 DEGREES IS STUNNING. An unemployment rate of 23%? The real jobless picture is coming together

An economy that had been near full employment just two months ago is now in its most dire straits since the Great Depression. New filings for weekly jobless claims, reported Thursday, added to the gloom with another 4.4 million applying for unemployment insurance.

That brought the five-week total to more than 26 million. While bad enough on its own, it helped to complete a picture that likely will show the U.S. with its highest unemployment rate in about 87 years.