More grim economic news today, as a Labor Department report announces a total of 240,000 job cuts in this U.S. this October. This brings the year’s total job losses to 1.2 million and the unemployment rate to 6.5%, the highest it has been in 14 years.

Jobs were lost in industries across the board: manufacturing lost 90,000, construction employment lost 49,000 and the hospitality industry cut 16,000 jobs. In business services, economists say there was a 45,000 person drop in employment.

Even with the holiday season coming up, stores have cut an estimated 38,000 jobs and retail sales have been significantly down over the past several months. Economist Robert Brusca believes America has entered an economic recession. “I think it’s pretty clear that we’re in a recession,” Brusca said, “There is reason for us to believe we’ll see a drumbeat of heavy job losses for a while, and there’s room for them to get even worse.”

For the newly unemployed, experts say it’s important to think about expenses that are easy to cut, such as eating out and going to the movies. They add that taking simple measures to stay healthy, like sleeping enough and exercising are even more important when people are without job-related health insurance.

We hope that some positive can come out of the hard times we all find ourselves in now. Tell us, how do you plan on making the upcoming holidays easier on your wallet? And share your ideas for helping unemployed people in your community. Comment below!