Household names from electronics retailer Philips, construction equipment maker Caterpillar and upper class retailer Fortnum & Mason are slashing jobs in one of the worst days for workers in recent memory.

Thousands of the job losses are due to hit in Britain with steel giant Corus axing 2,500 British workers as it cuts its global force by 3,500.

The scale of the challenge world leaders as they grapple with the worst economic downturn since the second world war was underlined as Gordon Brown today issued a stark warning that the global economy will be undermined unless countries work together to tackle the financial crisis.

The prime minister said there was a danger that "financial protectionism" would arise, with dire consequences for growth.

Setting the scene for April's G20 talks in London, Brown said: "If what happens to a bank in one country can within minutes have devastating effects for banks on a different continent, then only a truly international response of policy and governance can be effective."

"We also need to work to ensure that we do not experience a new form of financial protectionism, of mercantilism, of retreat into domestic financial markets."

In a black day for manufacturing Europe's largest consumer electronics company, Philips is shedding 6,000 jobs around the world after announcing its first loss for half a decade as cash-strapped consumers hold-off buying new TVs and household lighting. American mobile phone company Spring Nextel, meanwhile, is axing 8,000 while drugs group Pfizer is losing a similar number as a result of its merger with rival Wyeth.

News of further job losses in the high-tech electronics and drugs industries come after Sony announced thousands of jobs losses and Microsoft last week said it will cut 5,000 people over the next 18 months.

The biggest losses announced so far today, however, are from Caterpillar. The manufacturer of heavy duty earth moving equipment based in Peoria, Illinois, is axing almost 20% of its workforce or 20,000 people as profits collapse due to the dramatic downturn in the global construction industry.

The news has raised fears for the company's 10,000 employees in the UK, which is Caterpillar's largest operation outside the US, and Ireland. It has factories dotted across the UK from Teeside, Leicester and Peterborough to Shrewsbury and Slough. In Ireland its electricity generator business FG Wilson is Europe's largest assembler of generators.

Also cutting jobs today are struggling retailers Land of Leather, Sofa Workshop and America's Home Depot. This side of the Atlantic, job losses are also expected soon at Homebase as the company, owned by Home Retail Group which also runs Argos, consults with its senior staff about restructuring the business.

In the financial sector, which last year saw 52,000 jobs culled in one day by American banking giant Citigroup, ING has announced 7,000 job losses while Ulster Bank is axing 750 and Royal Bank of Scotland 750.

Other jobs are being lost as companies go to the wall. The collapse of Stylo, owner of Barratts and PriceLess shoe stores, has put at risk 5,450 jobs while the administrators of collapsed childrenswear retailer Adams is closing a further 36 stores with the loss of 267 jobs.

The Caterpillar job losses having nothing to do with Cat footwear, which is manufactured under a brand licence by US-based Wolverine Worldwide, which also makes Sebago deck shoes and Hush Puppies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/job-losses-uk-europe-usa