General Motors, the US auto giant, has announced it will be cutting 10,000 jobs or about 14 per cent of its salaried work force this year.

The Detroit-based firm said the cuts - part of their restructuring plan - are unavoidable with sales falling to historic lows as consumers rein in spending in the wake of the global slowdown.

The firm's US employees, not laid off, will also have their pay cut.

The restructuring was a central condition of a $14.4bn bailout extended by the US government.

GM faces a deadline of February 17 to present a cost-cutting and restructuring plan to the US treasury.

Most of the job losses will take effect by May 1, while most remaining US staff will see pay cuts of between 3 and 7 per cent for the year while executive pay would be cut by 10 per cent, GM said.

"These difficult actions are necessitated by a severe drop in vehicle sales worldwide and by the need to restructure GM for long-term viability," GM said in a statement.

GM's sales in January plunged 49 per cent and the firm has said it expects overall US sales to be near 10.5 million vehicles in 2009, extending a four-year slump that has taken the market to levels not seen since the early 1980s.

GM's rival Chrysler, which also received $4bn in government loans and is seeking an additional $3bn, is currently offering buyouts to its US hourly work force after cutting more than 8,000 salaried jobs in 2008.

GM, Chrysler and Ford, the "big three" of the US motor industry, have shed about 140,000 jobs since 2005 and almost half of their workforce since the start of the decade.