The US job losses in 2008 reached the highest level since the end of World War II, a Labor Department report is expected to show.

Payrolls fell 500,000 in December, bringing last year's total job losses to 2.4 million, the most since 1945, according to a poll of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The Labor Department figures, due Jan. 9, are also expected to show unemployment rate rising to its highest level since 1993.

The jobless rate probably climbed to 7 percent in December from 6.7 percent the prior month, according to the Bloomberg survey.