General Motors Co may pay its U.S. hourly workers at least $3,000 each as a share in profit, after the automaker returned to profitability in 2010, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

GM is expected to unveil the company's biggest ever profit sharing plan next week, which would benefit about 45,000 workers. The company's previous largest payout was $1,775 per worker in 1999, the newspaper said.

The current profit sharing figures are still being finalized by GM, the Journal said.

Last month, GM's rival Ford Motor Co paid its hourly workers $5,000 in profit sharing, while Chrysler Group paid its hourly workers $750 each despite not turning a profit in 2010, the WSJ said.

GM could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

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