<br/>The US economy lost 2, 63,000 jobs in September, which was more than expected. According to official figures the jobless rate rose to a fresh 26-year high of 9.8 per cent from August's figure of 9.7 per cent. The number in employment has now fallen for 21 consecutive months. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of people out of work has risen by 7.6 million to 15.1 million. Government employment, which has been one of the factors boosting the economy in the past year, fell by 53,000 in September. The other big areas of job losses were construction, manufacturing and retail. The Labor Department said the economy as a whole is expected to have grown in the past three months, but recovery in the jobs market tends to lag behind the rest of the economy.