U.S. energy sector shedding up to 15,000 jobs a month: Moody's Zandi

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. energy industry has been laying off 10,000 to 15,000 workers a month so far this year and may continue do so the rest of the year if the weakness in oil prices persist, Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said on Wednesday.

Zandi spoke on a conference call with reporters after the release of the July ADP National Employment Report, which Moody's Analytics jointly developed.

Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to their lowest since March 20 on Monday before recovering modestly. In early U.S. trading on Wednesday, they were up 1 percent at $46.24 a barrel . [O/R]

(Reporting by Richard Leong)