Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is considering measures to promote employment including a boost in infrastructure spending and incentives for businesses to hire, White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said.

“The message from the president has been -- and this is not something that started this morning -- has been to generate jobs, keep everything on the table, let’s get these ideas into the mix and get this job-creation machine running again,” Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio today.

Bernstein said the White House economic team is “considering additional investments in our infrastructure and incentives to encourage businesses to create jobs.” He added that the administration also has “an agenda to promote exports to help manufacturers to sell their products.”

The Labor Department earlier today said the unemployment rate soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast. Payrolls fell by 190,000 workers last month, compared with a 175,000 drop projected by the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“Obviously, it’s going to take a while to turn around this deeply stalled job-creation machine,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein estimated that the rate would be “at least 11 percent and going higher” without the effects of the $787 billion economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year.

The under-employment rate -- which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- reached a record 17.5 percent from 17 percent in September.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Dorning in Washington at mdorning@bloomberg.net Thomas R. Keene in New York tkeene@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 10:16 EST