By Ed Orum

Unemployment in the U.S. took a turn for the worse in October, jumping above the 10% mark for the first time since 1983. While that is sure to send shivers down your job-searching spine, there is a bright side - employers hired 34,000 temporary workers in October and manufacturing overtime was up. Some sectors are even hiring!

All this is according to IHS Global Insight, which analyzes the government's monthly employment report. First, the bad part - people are still losing their jobs - 190,000 of them in October, but that's nearly 100,000 less than analysts were predicting. The biggest losses were in manufacturing, construction, retail trade and leisure/hospitality.

For some job seekers, a secure profession is worth much more than a hefty paycheck.

By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Would you be willing to take a pay cut in exchange for a secure job? Stephanie Jenkins would.

Jenkins, 51, worked in the hospitality industry for over 25 years until she was laid off for the third time in 14 months. It was then that she decided it was time for a fresh start, in an industry that offered more job security.

"I feel like the hospitality industry abandoned me," Jenkins said.

With a background in hotel sales and marketing, Jenkins focused her search on healthcare because of recent reports of increased hiring there.

Even in the midst of the recession, employment in healthcare grew by 221,700 jobs since January. During the same period, hospitality lost 114,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department.

Hiring managers struggle to find employees, even as millions of jobs seekers are desperate for work.

By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite millions of unemployed job seekers desperate for work, many open positions are languishing unfilled. The reason? Not enough candidates.

With job openings largely concentrated in specialized industries like healthcare, green technology and energy, some employers say the problem is finding qualified workers, which are in short supply. Meanwhile, they are inundated with eager candidates from other industries who lack the skills and experience that the job requires.

Sometimes making a good living requires working with blood, guts, dark spaces, or creepy-crawlers. Are you up for a little fright? The following jobs each include something a little unsettling or, in many cases, down right scary. Take a look and see if you're brave enough to make a creepy career move.

By Alexandra Levit, author of "How'd You Score That Gig: A Guide to the Coolest Careers -- and How To Get Them"

The downhill direction of the economy has us all thinking about ways we can protect our livelihood. Why not start by getting creative? Consider some little known career paths that will ensure that you stay competitive and look forward to going to work every morning. Here are seven cool jobs to consider today:

1. Computational linguist

Computational linguists teach computer systems how to process natural language. For example, if you're trying to order a book from Amazon in Japanese, the site will be able to other relevant similar titles for you.

Enter the field with a bachelor's degree in computer science and start with a salary in the high five figures.

How to break in: Meet valuable contacts by getting involved with the Linguistics Society of America (www.lsadc.org) and the Association of Computational Linguistics (www.aclweb.org).