NEW YORK — General Motors Corp. will offer buyouts to all of its hourly employees, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday, as the troubled automaker continues to slash costs.

GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the buyouts will mainly target GM's 22,000 retirement-eligible hourly employees, though any union employee can take the offer.

News of the buyouts first broke on Monday. A union official told The Associated Press then that GM would offer $20,000 in cash and a $25,000 car voucher for workers who retire early and those who simply leave the company. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because workers were not yet notified of the packages.

Sapienza confirmed that the offer will consist of a car voucher and a one-time cash payment, though he declined to offer more details, saying employees will be informed of the specifics of the offer on Friday.

Sapienza said employees will have until March 24 to decide whether to accept a buyout. Employees who accept the buyout will leave the company by April 1.

The buyouts are the latest round of cost-cutting measures by GM, which is racing to piece together a plan for returning to viability by the middle of the month. The Detroit-based company is scheduled to report January auto sales later Tuesday, and analysts are expecting a steep year-over-year decline.

WASHINGTON — Layoffs are spiking as the recession rips through the country, with retailers, banks, factories and others cutting costs ever deeper this week. It's inflicting a painful toll on workers, and there's little relief in sight.The latest round of pink slips and cost-cutting measures came Tuesday on the heels of tens of thousands of layoffs ordered by a slew of companies last week alone.PNC Financial Services Group said it plans to cut 5,800 jobs. Airplane maker Hawker Beechcraft Corp. said 2,300 employees will lose their jobs before the end of the year and warned more layoffs may be coming. Liz Claiborne Inc., will eliminate 725 jobs, or 8 percent of its work force, one day after Macy's Inc. said it was axing 7,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its work force. King Pharmaceuticals Inc., will get rid of 520 jobs.