Unemployment soars amid job cuts

London: Unemployment continues to rise across the world as companies shed jobs in the economic downturn, latest data from major economies shows.

The US private sector lost 693,000 jobs in December, a survey showed on Wednesday amid deepening recession in the world's biggest economy.

The December job decline in non farm private employment, revealed in the ADP National Employment Report, was far bigger than 493,000 job cuts expected by analysts in the last month of 2008.

Some 476,000 job losses were reported in November, said the ADP report, pointing particularly to a deterioration in jobs in small and medium-sized firms.

"Sharply falling employment at medium- and small-size businesses clearly indicates that the recession has now spread well beyond manufacturing and housing-related activities," ADP warned.

Spanish registered jobless topped three million for the first time ever in December and the government said unemployment would worsen in 2009 as the global economic crisis continued to wreak havoc.

German unemployment rose in December for the first time since February 2006, signalling an end to a three-year labour market boom as the global credit crisis hits companies in Europe's largest economy.

Unemployment rose by a bigger-than-expected 18,000 in seasonally adjusted terms, the Federal Labour Office said on Wednesday,

Swiss annual inflation eased sharply in December thanks to cheaper oil while unemployment rose to its highest in almost 2 years as the drop in global demand for Swiss goods forced more firms to axe jobs.

The number of unemployed hit its highest in nearly 2 years in December with the unemployment rate up at 3.0 percent after 2.7 percent in November, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said.

French consumer confidence sank in December as households worried that the sluggish economy would lead to a jump in unemployment and hurt their personal finances.