Non seasonally adjusted Initial Jobless Claims and Total Nonfarm Payrolls....  
9/11/10 339,838      130.311 million (August numbers)
9/12/09 411,126      129,857 ( September 2009)
9/13/03 328,414     129,925 (September 2003)
9/10/83 288,700       91,231 ( September 1983)
On the other side of the job picture Private Sector Job Openings today are 2.723 million which
is up from last years'number of 2.046 million. At the start of the recession this number was 3.92 million and in September 2003 this number was 2.819 million.