U.S. private employers shed 693,000 jobs in December, up sharply from the revised 476,000 jobs lost in November and far more than economists estimated, a report by ADP Employer Services said on Wednesday.
Separate data also showed planned layoffs at U.S. firms eased in December from the previous month's seven-year high but were up an astounding 275 percent annually as the year-old recession cut a huge swathe of destruction through job market.
Worse yet, he said he still expected a little more than 2 million U.S. job losses over the next year.
He added that the U.S. economy probably contracted at a 5.5 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter and would shrink 3.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Job cuts announced in December totaled 166,348, down 8.4 percent from November's 181,671, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. Despite the monthly decline, layoffs were up from just 44,416 in the year-ago period.
Overall, employers announced 1,223,993 job cuts in 2008, the largest annual total since 2003, when there were 1,236,426 job cuts.
The American Bankers Association said late payments on U.S. consumer loans rose in the third quarter to their highest level since 1980, with late payments on indirect auto loans and home equity lines of credit hitting the highest ever during that period.
The ABA said it expected delinquencies on all types of U.S. consumer loans to rise in coming quarters.
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