'Bloody Monday' sees over 50,000 job cuts

Tens of thousands of job losses were announced in the US on Monday. American economists say they expect the recession to worsen this year.

US heavy vehicles maker Caterpillar said it would cut over 20,000 jobs to deal with the challenging global business environment.

The company had earlier announced axing 15,000 workers in 2008. The people who will lose their jobs amount to about 18 per cent of the company's total workforce. Caterpillar currently employs about 1,13,000 workers.

Last week, Microsoft said it would cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company Pfizer/Wyeth has announced a layoff of 20,000 workers while Texas Instruments will axe 3,400 employees.

In Europe too, more than 10,000 job cuts have been announced.

Financial firm ING has announced that 7,000 employees will be sacked.

Other companies that have recently announced job cuts include electronic giant Philips which will axe 6,000 workers and UK's steel manufacturer Corus which will layoff 3,500 among others.

Hoping to deal with the financial crisis soon, US President Barack Obama is lobbying for a quick Congressional passage of his $825 billion stimulus package.