As China’s monthly auto sales overtake the United States’s auto sales for the first time, troubled automaker GM announced today they are slashing 10,000 workers worldwide.

This massive global layoff accounts for 14 percent of its salaried staff — with one third of the reported cuts coming from the U.S. By May 1, 3,400 of GM’s 29,500 U.S. salaried workers will have received pink slips. The Detroit-based car manufacturers also said they will be reducing its employee pay by as much as 10 percent to slash costs. The automaker also said it’s reviewing salaries and benefits of white-collared staff abroad.

The move by General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, comes after former President George W. Bush’s government signed off to fork over a $13.4 billion bailout to the company. 

Industry analysts are saying the fallen automaker is taking drastic measures to pay back Uncle Sam. "By February 17, GM must submit to the Treasury Department a plan to restructure, restore profit and repay their multi-billion-dollar loan by the end of 2011. And as for China’s car sales overtaking those of theU.S.? The reason, analysts say, is that the "slump in sales in China has been less severe than the slump in the U.S."

Not exactly a cause for celebration for any automaker.