The latest jobs report defied expectations this morning: payrolls grew by 204,000 people in October, contrary to the 120,000-figure forecasted by surveyed economists. Does this mean the labor markets emerged from the government shutdown unscathed?

Down in the trenches of the labor market, people don’t need a government forecast to tell them that times are still tough for so many. This is especially true in Nevada, where 9.5 percent of the workforce remains unemployed. After a five month stretch without work, 24-year-old Rebecca Farewell Prisaznuk finally found a job she likes working for the state in Carson City. But that wasn’t the end of her unemployment nightmare.