The US economy lost a stunning 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate jumped to a 15-year high of 6.7%.
Today's US Labor Department report highlighted the severe retrenchment by companies in the face of a struggling economy and tight credit.
The number of job losses was much higher than the 325,000 expected by private forecasters.
The report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, also included a sharp upward revision in the number of job losses in the prior two months.
October saw a loss of 403,000 jobs (up from an earlier estimate of 240,00) and September job losses were revised up to 320,000 from 284,000.
The jobless rate, based on a separate survey of households, was the highest since October 1993 but slightly better than the consensus estimate of economists of 6.8%.
