Washington  - President George W Bush said he was concerned about Friday's report of more than 500,000 US jobs lost in November and insisted his administration was making the right moves to address the credit crisis at the heart of the downturn.

The rise in unemployment to 6.7 per cent "reflects the fact that our economy is in a recession," Bush said. US economists this week officially declared the world's largest economy has been in a recession since December 2007.

"We are focusing on the root causes of the economic downturn in order to return our economy to health," Bush said in brief comments at the White House, citing moves to free up loan availability and bring stability to the financial system.

"Credit is beginning to move. A market that was frozen is thawing," Bush said.

The Labour Department said 533,000 jobs were cut nationwide in November, the most in a month since 1974. On Thursday a private group reported retail sales in November fell 2.7 per cent compared to a year earlier, the largest drop in more than 30 years.

Bush also urged Congress to aid the country's three struggling automakers, whose executives were appearing before legislators Thursday and Friday to plea for a
34-billion-dollar federal bail-out.

But Bush was silent on whether General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC should get all they money they asked for. He instead advised Congress to restructure a 25-billion-dollar bill that was originally intended only for energy-efficiency improvements. (dpa)