* Govt eyes 1.5 trillion yen job measures as firms curb wages
* Japan manufacturer sentiment at record low - Reuters Tankan
* Outlook bleak for BOJ quarterly tankan on April 2
By Shigeo Kodama
TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - Japan plans a 1.5 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) jobs package, the labour minister said on Thursday, as a new survey showed manufacturer sentiment falling to a record low, suggesting more jobs may be cut.
The package follows a wave of layoffs and signs that firms will curb hiring and freeze workers' salaries this year as the global financial crisis takes its toll on the world's No. 2 economy.
"The priority now should be on protecting jobs," Labour Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a news conference.
"We want to announce measures for jobs on the scale of around 1.5 trillion yen," he said of the plan, which media reported included money to retrain unemployed people.
The top government spokesman said the measures had yet to be approved, but they are widely expected to be part of a broader stimulus package Prime Minister Taro Aso is trying to compile on top of 12 trillion yen in spending announced last year.
Aso, whose public support is languishing ahead of an election this year, has vowed to step up action to rescue the economy from its worst recession since World War Two.
His efforts, however, are being bogged down by a deadlock in parliament, where opposition parties control the upper house and can delay bills.
The government may hold off on proposing further spending to parliament until May, media have said, as it waits for the stalled 2009/10 fiscal year budget and related bills to be passed first.
The political paralysis has done little to ease concern among ordinary Japanese about the economy and their jobs.
The jobless rate was at 4.1 percent in January and the ratio of jobs to applicants hit a five-year low of 0.67, meaning there were only two jobs for every three applicants.
"Just like in manufacturing, companies are laying off temporary workers, while holding onto their full-time staff," said Toshihiro Asari, 48, a freelance software engineer until the end of last year, when jobs dried up.
"I didn't pay much attention when the Lehman shock happened in America last year. But it's spread like an infectious disease," said Asari, who is currently looking for work.
Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it will nearly halve its hiring of new graduates next business year, while tech firm Sony said it would freeze workers' salaries this year.
MONEY FOR JOBLESS
The Nikkei business daily said the government and the top business organisation and labour group are expected to agree on the emergency job measures as soon as Monday.
Ideas included work-sharing programmes and money for those no longer eligible for unemployment benefits, it said.
The bleak picture for jobs was further highlighted as a Reuters poll showed on Thursday that Japanese manufacturer sentiment hit a record low and looked set to stay low as global demand for exports dried up.
Service-sector sentiment also hovered near a record low as consumers tightened spending, according to the March results for the Reuters Tankan, a monthly poll of 228 firms that tracks the Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly tankan survey.
"All manufacturers were in quite a bad mood in March. There is no end in sight for Japan's economic downturn," said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital Japan.
"We expect the Bank of Japan's tankan to show a sharp deterioration in big manufacturers' sentiment."
In the last quarter, the economy contracted at its fastest rate since the 1974 oil crisis -- about twice as fast as the United States and the euro zone -- due to its heavy reliance on exports.
Economists say a rising pile of unsold goods, which has led to factory holidays and lay offs, could signal a similar contraction in January-March.
"We aren't seeing any signs of recovery in our major markets, including the auto sector," an electric machinery company said in the Reuters survey, conducted from Feb. 26 to March 13. (Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka, Isabel Reynolds, Leika Kihara; Editing by Rodney Joyce)