The unemployment rate spiked to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent, the highest level since 1994. Many analysts now expect unemployment will reach 8 percent by the middle of the year.

Coupled with revisions to September’s data — which now show a loss of 284,000 jobs, down from an initial estimate of 159,000 — the economy has shed 1.2 million jobs since the beginning of the year. More than half the job losses have been in the last three months alone.

“The economy is slipping deeper into a recessionary sinkhole that is getting broader,” said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. “The layoffs are getting larger, and coming faster. We’re likely to see at least another six months of more jobs reports like this.”

The latest evidence of widening economic pain seemed certain to inject more urgency into the debate over another round of government spending aimed at stimulating growth. It amplified the sense that President-elect Barack Obama will inherit an unenviable list of challenges.

Mr. Obama has in recent months called for another package of so-called stimulus spending initiatives. Democratic leaders in the House said this week that they would seek swift passage of $60 billion to $100 billion worth of measures that would extend unemployment benefits and food stamps, while aiding states whose tax revenues have plummeted. They would then pursue a broader package of measures that could reach $200 billion after Mr. Obama takes office in January.

The Bush administration has criticized Democratic proposals for immediate aid, raising the specter of a veto.

On Friday, President Bush, in a written statement, acknowledged the latest jobs report as a sign of “difficult challenges confronting our economy.” But he added that a series of “aggressive and decisive measures to address this situation” already unleashed by the government will eventually provide relief.

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