INSTANT VIEW: Employers cut 533,000 jobs in November

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Employers axed payrolls by a shocking 533,000 in November for the weakest performance in 34 years, government data on Friday showed, as the recession inflicted a mounting toll on the U.S. labor market

KEY POINTS: * The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent last month in the highest reading since 1993, compared with 6.5 percent in October, after widespread losses across the country's major industry sectors. * November's job losses were the steepest since December 1974, when 602,000 jobs were shed. * analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a reduction of 340,000 jobs. * October's job losses were revised to show a cut of 320,000, previously reported as a 240,000 loss, while September's losses were revised to a loss of 403,000 from down 284,00.

COMMENTS:

NIGEL GAULT, CHIEF U.S. ECONOMIST, GLOBAL INSIGHT,

LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS:

"These are horrendous numbers... This is an economy that is in absolute free-fall right now. Confidence has collapsed.

"Obviously at the moment we got the employment plunging, and with employment plunging, consumer incomes are plunging and consumer spending is plunging and we just have a very straight downward spiral right now.

"Look at the private nonfarm diffusion index, which tells you the breadth of the decline, and that index is down to 27.6... This is something across all major sectors with the possible exception of health. They may have added jobs in health, but it's nothing.

"The unemployment rate only went up to 6.7, so that's a tiny, tiny piece of comfort compared to the rest of the numbers, which are just disastrous.

"These numbers are so bad, absolutely. They are really horrific and they will massively increase the pressure on the incoming administration to come up with a huge stimulus package."

JOHN LONSKI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE, NEW

YORK:

"The losses are so broadly distributed that it would be difficult to argue that any unusual event was responsible for the severity of the decline.

"The only positive takeaway would be that the unemployment rate was less than anticipated at 6.7 percent and you did get oddly enough an increase in average weekly earnings thanks to a jump in average hourly earnings.

"But on balance it's a very weak report. Hours were down sharply in the month of November, and following a deep decline in October.

"All of this warns of a quarter-to-quarter annualized contraction by real GDP by 5 percent if not deeper for the final quarter.