Reuters reported that GM cut several hundred salaried jobs on Tuesday in its initial effort to reduce its U.S. white-collar work force by about 2,500 this year.  The affected employees were asked to leave the company immediately.

The latest job cuts were first announced last November, when the struggling automaker said it would let go of 7 percent of its 36,000 white-collar U.S. employees this year.

GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005 as it faced high labor and commodities costs, loss of U.S. market share to foreign rivals and sluggish sales of sport-utility vehicles -- typically its largest profit generators.

Story: Reuters