The U.S. lost half a million jobs in November, the largest one-month drop since 1974, as employers brace for a recession that's expected to stretch through much of 2009.

Nonfarm payrolls declined 533,000 for the month, while revisions to earlier figures showed employers shedding almost 1.3 million jobs since September. The tally of 1.9 million jobs pared thus far in 2008 surpasses the losses of the past two recessions, signaling that the current downturn could be the worst since the years immediately following World War II.

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