NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the US, is giving executives and employees at least $619 million in retention pay, $150 million more than previously disclosed.

AIG is spending the money to prevent about 4,200 employees from quitting, the insurer said in a document given yesterday to US Representative Elijah Cummings. New York-based AIG disclosed in a November regulatory filing that it was paying $469 million for at least 2,231 employees. That filing said there were other retention plans for subsidiaries without listing how many workers were included.

Chief executive officer Edward Liddy is trying to dissuade employees from leaving units that must be sold to repay the government. The US rescued the insurer from collapse in September with a bailout that later expanded to $150 billion. Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who met with Liddy in Washington yesterday, has said AIG downplayed the extent of the pay and that it's unnecessary to give so much cash when job markets are weak.

"My constituents who are losing jobs and homes don't understand why life should continue for these AIG executives as it did before the bailout," Cummings said in an interview.