Unemployment rate stays at 10 percent. Employers cut 85,000 jobs, more than analysts had expected.

The government says that the country's unemployment rate remained at 10 percent in December. But the report, released by the Labor Department Friday morning, also says that employers cut 85,000 jobs last month, more than analysts had expected.

Minutes after the release of the report, the Republican National Committee reacted:

"More than 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the stimulus passed, and the national unemployment rate remains at 10 percent. The American economy is a powerful and amazingly resilient system that will always naturally return to balance because of the determination and unique ingenuity of the American worker. But President Obama's singular focus on enacting his government-run liberal policies are single handily preventing this return," said RNC Chairman Michael Steele in a statement. "It's time for President Obama to heed the recent words of Democrat Senator Ben Nelson and finally do what he should have been doing over the past year – put his full and undivided attention on fixing our economy."
President Barack Obama's expected to discuss the economy and jobs at an event at the White House Friday afternoon.

The October rate of 10.2 percent was the highest in the United States since 1983. (Source CNN)