No quick end seen to spiralling U.S. job cuts

By Scott Malone - Analysis

BOSTON (Reuters) - The United States experienced its sharpest drop in employment in more than three decades last month, and there is no end in slight to the bloodletting as corporations search for ways to cut costs, executives said.

The news that American employers had shed far more workers than expected last month -- cuts made even before this week's confirmation that the nation has been in recession for a year -- drove down stocks in the United States.

"This clearly demonstrates that the decline is accelerating," said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of North American operations for Adecco SA, the world's biggest staffing firm. "It looked midyear like maybe things would get a little bit better, and now the numbers are just dropping dramatically."

The Labour Department said U.S. nonfarm employers dropped 533,000 workers in November, a steeper fall than the 340,000 decline that economists surveyed by Reuters had expected. It marked the biggest tumble since December 1974 and means the economy has lost some 1.9 million jobs this year.

The cutting continued on Friday, with U.S. companies including General Motors Corp, asset manager Legg Mason Inc, auto parts supplier Gentex, BMC Software and Sonoco Products announcing new layoffs.

Earlier this week, such blue-chip companies as AT&T, DuPont, United Technologies and General Electric said they planned to shed workers as they look for ways to cut their costs.

The range of companies cutting jobs shows the economic contagion that started with the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, went on to knock the legs out from under the nation's home prices and sparked a global credit crunch is hammering all sectors of the economy.

BLEAK DECEMBER