Fears that the world is sliding into the worst global recession since the Great Depression multiplied yesterday as figures showed the steepest jump in American unemployment since the Second World War and a slump in manufacturing across Europe.

Economists on both sides of the Atlantic were startled by the severity of the latest indications of global economic slump, which further stoked pressure for radical action to stave off economic calamity.

A further surge in US joblessness led the litany of bleak developments yesterday. Official figures confirmed that more Americans lost their jobs last year than in any year since 1945, and that unemployment is soaring at the fastest pace seen since then.

A total of 524,000 Americans were made redundant by US employers last month alone, the latest official payroll figures showed. The mounting toll of job losses drove the unemployment rate in the world's largest economy up to a 15-year peak of 7.2 per cent, sharply higher than November's 6.8 per cent, amid predictions that it will leap to 9.5 per cent or more by the second half of next year.

“The jobs situation is ugly and it is going to get uglier,” Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research in New York, said. “There's no reason to expect hiring any time in the next three to six months. We're not going to get any hiring until the Government steps in and acts. Talk doesn't work.”

Anxieties over the scale of the recession now gripping the whole Western economy were intensified by a further decline in European industry. Germany, Spain, Sweden and France joined Britain in reporting the worst collapse in their manufacturing sectors for many years.

In Germany, Europe's manufacturing heartland, factory production fell by 3.1 per cent in November to stand 10 per cent down from levels a year ago. The figures left senior government sources in Berlin predicting that Europe's biggest economy probably shrank by as much as 2 per cent during the final quarter of last year.

“The financial crisis has pushed German industry into a condition of shock and awe,” Carsten Brzeski, of ING Financial Markets, said. “In terms of economic growth, the fourth quarter will make history as the worst quarter ever.”

As German industry slid into the mire, its European competitors were not far behind. In Sweden, industrial production tumbled by 11.9 per cent in November; in France, it suffered a larger than expected 2.4 per cent drop.

It was the trend in the American jobs market that provoked the greatest consternation, however.

As well as December's huge number of job losses, the data also laid bare a worse than previously reported toll in previous months, as prior job losses were revised upwards.

The severe pressures on American businesses were emphasised, too, as the average weekly hours worked by American employees sank to a record low of 33.3 last month. Over the past year, numbers of hours worked have fallen by 1.5 per cent, in the steepest decline since late 2001.

The figures showed that the job cuts afflicting the American economy last month were widespread. The construction industry succumbed to 101,000 job losses, while US manufacturers cut payrolls by 149,000. Services businesses shed 273,000 posts.

The news piled pressure on the US Congress to move swiftly to implement plans by President-elect Obama for a huge new fiscal stimulus package of tax cuts and increased government spending.

The American economy has already been officially in recession for 12 months. If the situation persists for more than 16 months, this will mark its longest recession since the Depression in the Thirties.

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