Ford Motor Co. and Dow Chemical Co. joined a growing number of companies firing thousands of workers as sluggish U.S. growth and Europe's deepening recession lead to a persisting slump in sales.

North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firings total 158,100 so far this year, more than the 129,000 job cuts in the same period in 2011.

Ford is closing its first European car-assembly factories in 10 years and Colgate-Palmolive Co. said today it will cut 2,300 jobs, adding to more than 5,500 cuts announced by Dow Chemical, DuPont Co. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the past week. The reductions coincide with a majority of U.S. companies missing analysts' third-quarter revenue estimates and a focus on jobs in the final weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign.