ATHENS, Greece • Greece's coalition government on Monday caved in to demands to cut civil service jobs, announcing 15,000 positions would go this year, amid mounting international pressure to agree on austerity measures needed to secure major new debt agreements.

The announcement signals a shift in Greece's policy, as state jobs have so far been protected during the country's acute financial crisis, which started about two years ago. Public Sector Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas said the job cuts would be carried out under a new law that allows such firings.

Unions have called a 24-hour general strike for today, in response to the new austerity measures, while about 4,000 protesters braved torrential rain late Monday to join protest rallies organized in central Athens by left-wing opposition parties.

Greece is racing to push through the painful reforms — which have yet to be agreed by Greece's coalition partners — to clinch a $170 billion bailout deal from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund and avoid a March default on its bond repayments.

Debt-ridden Greece has been kept solvent since May 2010 by payments from a $145 billion international rescue loan package. When it became clear the money would not be enough, a second bailout was decided last October.

As well as the austerity measures, the bailout also depends on separate talks with banks and other private bondholders to forgive $131.6 billion in Greek debt. The private investors have been locked in negotiations over swapping their current debt for a cash payment and new bonds worth 50 percent less than the original face value, longer repayment terms and a cut in the interest rate to be paid on the bonds. Greek government officials say they expect private investors to take an overall cut of up to 70 percent on the value of their bonds.

Greece's coalition party leaders pushed back a key meeting on the austerity measures by a day until today, due to the ongoing negotiations with EU-IMF debt inspectors who were locked in talks with the government Monday.

U.S. stocks fall over Greek talks • U.S. stocks retreated from multiyear highs Monday as Greece struggled for an agreement on spending cuts needed to ensure another round of rescue funds.

"This week the focus is on central banks, with the Bank of England meeting and the European Central Bank talking about their monetary policy. There's not a ton of market-moving data for the U.S., so that along with Greece is going to keep us focused on things overseas," said Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners in Chicago.

Losing ground after finishing Friday at its highest level since May 2008, the Dow Jones industrial average on Monday shed 17.10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,845.13.

EUROZONE DEBT FALLS

Debt levels in bailed-out countries Greece, Portugal and Ireland continued to rise in the third quarter of last year, but they fell for Italy and the 17-nation eurozone as a whole, official statistics showed Monday.

Greece's debt level was highest, spiking to 159.1 percent of gross domestic product and suggesting that repeated austerity cuts have yet to turn the country's finances around.

Despite the deterioration in the weakest members, overall debt in the eurozone fell to 87.4 percent of GDP from 87.7 percent in the second quarter, thanks mainly to improvements in the biggest economies like Germany and France.

Investors will take heart from the Eurostat figures showing debt stabilized in both Italy and Spain, the two economies seen as the next shakiest members of the currency union.

The numbers, by nation:

• Greece 159.1 percent, up from 154.7 percent

• Italy 119.6 percent, down from 121.2 percent

• Portugal 110.1 percent, up from 106.5 percent

• Ireland 104.9 percent, up from 102.3 percent

• Belgium 98.5 percent, up from 98.0 percent

• France 85.2 percent, down from 86.0 percent

• Germany 81.8 percent, down from 82.0 percent

• Austria 71.6 percent, down from 72.2 percent

• Malta 70.3 percent, down from 71.9 percent

• Cyprus 67.5 percent, unchanged

• Spain 66.0 percent, unchanged

• Netherlands 64.5 percent, up from 63.8 percent

• Finland 47.2 percent, up from 45.6 percent

• Slovenia 44.4 percent, down from 44.5 percent

• Slovakia 42.2 percent, down from 42.7 percent

• Luxembourg 18.5 percent, down from 18.8 percent

• Estonia 6.1 percent, down from 6.3 percent