The U-S lost 190-thousand jobs in October pushing the nationwide unemployment rate to 10.2% South Dakota's jobless rate is 4.8%.

Even though KELOLAND jobs aren't being hit as hard as the rest of the nation, one congressional leader says we'll likely feel the impact if certain policies take shape.

Thousands of South Dakotan's have lost their jobs in this economy, and Senator John Thune says lawmakers are not doing enough to save jobs and put people back to work.

"The one thing that we do know is there's been all this talk about the effect that the stimulus bill had on the economy here in South Dakota, but since the stimulus bill passed Feb 15th of this year, SD has lost 5,800 jobs in our economy,” Thune said.

Thune says he's also concerned about other policies on Capitol hill. When more credit card rules take effect in February, Thune predicts South Dakota will lose jobs.

"I'm very concerned about some of these policy initiatives in Washington D.C. That could impact financial services industry, which is a big contributor to our economy, big job creator,” Thune said.

Thune also says the state's healthcare sector would suffer if democratic health reform passes the Senate and becomes law.

"Healthcare, if this healthcare bill passes, I think it could have some really harmful impacts on healthcare delivery in this country and right now health care is a big driver of the economy in South Dakota, it creates a lot of jobs,” Thune said.

The senator says only time will tell just how bad KELOLAND's job market will become.

Senator Thune also says until the economy turns around, he suspects South Dakota's unemployment rate will slowly increase with the national numbers.