While media company job losses for the first two months of 2009 sit at 7,453 in the United States, and Sony Pictures prepares to cut another 300, media is not nearly the most affected U.S. industry by the global recession, according to a Thursday Hollywood Reporter article.

Based on jobs loss data from a report by consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the retail and automotive industry has suffered the most at the hands of the economic crisis. Retailers have cut 72,727 staff and the automotive industry has slashed 70,058 jobs, according to the article by Hollywood Reporter, posted by Reuters.

The Challenger report analysed 25 different industries. In 2008, with 28,083 job losses, the media sector had the 14th most lay offs. The 2008 figure for January and February of last year was 5,544, which is 34 percent lower than the first two months of this year.