Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 691-6392 USDL 00-352 For release: 10:00 A.M. EST Media contact: 691-5902 Tuesday, December 5, 2000 MASS LAYOFFS IN OCTOBER 2000 In October 2000, there were 874 mass layoff actions by employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 103,755. (See table 1.) The number of layoff events and initial claims for unemployment insurance were the lowest for the month of October since the series began in 1995, due, in part, to a calendar effect. (October 2000 contained 4 weeks that ended in the month compared with 5 weeks in each of the prior three Octobers. See Technical Note.) From January through October 2000, the total number of layoff events (11,364) was slightly lower than in January-October 1999, while the total number of initial claims (1,292,335) was somewhat higher. The monthly data series in this release cover mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given month, regardless of the duration of the layoffs. Information on the length of the layoff is obtained later and issued in a quarterly release that reports on mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days (referred to as "extended mass layoffs") and provides more information on the industry classification and location of the establishment and on the demographics of the laid-off workers. Because monthly figures include short-term layoffs of 30 days or less, the sum of the figures for the 3 months in a quarter will be higher than the quarterly figure for mass layoffs of more than 30 days. (See table 1.) See the Technical Note for more detailed definitions. Industry Distribution In October 2000, manufacturing industries accounted for 37 percent of all mass layoff events and 47 percent of all initial claims filed. The highest number of initial claimants was in transportation equipment (17,704), primarily in motor vehicles and car bodies. Other manufacturing industries with high numbers of initial claimants were food and kindred products (6,729) and industrial machinery and equipment (6,567). (See table 2.) Services accounted for 18 percent of all layoffs and 15 percent of initial claimants during the month, mainly in business services (particularly help supply services) and motion pictures. Layoffs in help supply services are more likely than those in most other industries to last less than 30 days. Seventeen percent of all layoff events and 13 percent of initial claimants during the month were from agriculture, mostly in agricultural services (farm labor contractors). Retail trade accounted for 8 percent of all mass layoff events and 6 percent of all initial claimants during the month, largely in general merchandise stores, eating and drinking places, and food stores. An additional 7 percent of all events and 5 percent of all initial claimants were from construction, mostly in heavy construction. Compared with October 1999, the largest over-the-year decreases in initial claims occurred in industrial machinery and equipment (-6,418), motion pictures (-2,789), apparel and other textile products (-2,669), and business services (-2,389). The largest increase in initial claims occurred in transportation equipment (+6,498). - 2 - Geographic Distribution In October, the number of initial claims due to mass layoffs was higher in the West (37,687) than in any other region. (See table 3.) Layoffs in agricultural services, agricultural production crops, and business services accounted for 46 percent of the claims in the West. The fewest number of mass-layoff initial claims was reported in the Northeast region (9,040). Over-the-year decreases in mass layoff-related initial claims were reported in 3 of the 4 regions: West (-10,350), Midwest (-4,270), and Northeast (-3,455). Among the nine geographic divisions, six reported over-the-year decreases in initial claims associated with mass layoff events, with the largest decrease reported in the Pacific division. Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, California had the largest number of initial claims filed in mass layoff events (30,578), primarily in agricultural services and agricultural production crops, followed by Ohio (9,611) and Texas (8,477). These three states accounted for 46 percent of all layoff events and 47 percent of all initial claims for unemployment insurance. (See table 4.) From October 1999 to October 2000, California reported the largest over- the-year decrease in initial claims (-11,341), mostly in business services and motion pictures. Among the 25 states that reported over-the-year increases in initial claims, Ohio had the largest increase (+2,816). Technical Note The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program is a federal-state program that uses a standardized, automated approach to identifying, describing, and tracking the effects of major job cutbacks, using data from each state's unemployment insurance database. Each month, states report on establishments which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a consecutive 5-week period. These establishments then are contacted by the state agency to determine whether these separations lasted 31 days or longer, and, if so, other information concerning the layoff is collected. States report on layoffs lasting more than 1 month on a quarterly basis. A given month contains an aggregation of the weekly unemployment insurance claims filings for the Sunday through Saturday weeks in that month. All weeks are included for the particular month, except if the first day of the month falls on Saturday. In this case, the week is included in the prior month's tabulations. This means that some months will contain 4 weeks and others 5 weeks, and the number of weeks in a given month may be different from year to year. Therefore, analysis of over-the- month and over-the-year change should take this calendar effect into consideration. The MLS program resumed operations in April 1995 after it had been terminated in November 1992 due to lack of funding. Prior to April 1995, monthly layoff statistics were not available. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339. Definitions Initial claimant. A person who files any notice of unemployment to initiate a request either for a determination of entitlement to and eligibility for compensation, or for a subsequent period of unemployment within a benefit year or period of eligibility. Mass layoff event. Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed against an establishment during a 5-week period, regardless of duration. Table 1. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, October 1998 to October 2000 Extended mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days Date Total mass layoffs Event realization rate(1) Initial Initial Events claimants Events claimants 1998 October ....................... 1,553 160,830 November ...................... 1,368 144,343 December ...................... 1,776 207,661 Fourth Quarter ................ 4,697 512,834 1,734 325,990 36.9 1999 January ....................... 2,421 226,995 February ...................... 1,067 89,800 March ......................... 880 91,890 First Quarter ................. 4,368 408,685 1,509 252,122 34.5 April ......................... 1,270 136,885 May ........................... 1,032 102,738 June .......................... 1,140 130,951 Second Quarter ................ 3,442 370,574 1,444 242,464 42.0 July .......................... 1,741 221,334 August ........................ 698 75,691 September ..................... 717 75,288 Third Quarter ................. 3,156 372,313 1,097 (r)189,973 34.8 October ....................... 1,098 118,938 November ...................... 1,336 139,508 December ...................... 1,509 162,381 Fourth Quarter ................ 3,943 420,827 1,625 (r)287,421 41.2 2000 January ....................... 1,934 223,322 February ...................... 1,045 103,898 March ......................... 986 106,748 First Quarter ................. 3,965 433,968 (r)1,331 (r)220,019 33.6 April ......................... 924 101,359 May ........................... 984 92,193 June .......................... 1,597 192,025 Second Quarter ................ 3,505 385,577 (r)1,272 (r)228,867 (r)36.3 July .......................... 1,333 164,978 August ........................ 751 97,215 September(p) .................. 936 106,842 Third Quarter(p) .............. 3,020 369,035 975 142,269 32.3 October(p) .................... 874 103,755 1 The event realization rate is the percentage of total mass layoff events lasting more than 30 days. p = preliminary. r = revised. Table 2. Industry distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance Initial claimants for Mass layoff events unemployment insurance Industry October August September October October August September October 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) Total(1) ....................................... 1,098 751 936 874 118,938 97,215 106,842 103,755 Total, private ...................................... 1,047 717 885 826 114,389 93,717 101,134 98,349 Agriculture ....................................... 237 38 119 145 16,626 2,898 7,747 13,631 Nonagriculture .................................... 797 668 754 670 96,803 89,554 92,220 82,285 Manufacturing ................................... 374 252 313 321 55,679 35,370 46,605 48,588 Durable goods ................................. 211 147 178 175 36,245 22,823 33,403 34,544 Lumber and wood products .................... 18 17 18 19 1,575 1,882 1,354 1,819 Furniture and fixtures ...................... 18 12 10 10 2,660 1,853 1,439 944 Stone, clay, and glass products ............. ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 11 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 794 ( 2 ) Primary metal industries .................... 16 16 20 20 2,216 3,118 2,082 2,857 Fabricated metal products ................... 19 11 12 20 1,698 1,098 844 1,737 Industrial machinery and equipment .......... 49 29 24 22 12,985 4,726 5,816 6,567 Electronic and other electrical equipment ... 26 20 17 14 2,536 3,284 1,470 1,865 Transportation equipment .................... 48 32 51 57 11,206 6,038 18,124 17,704 Instruments and related products ............ ( 2 ) 5 8 6 ( 2 ) 380 836 480 Miscellaneous manufacturing industries ...... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 7 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 644 ( 2 ) Nondurable goods .............................. 163 105 135 146 19,434 12,547 13,202 14,044 Food and kindred products ................... 73 28 40 64 8,253 3,264 4,235 6,729 Tobacco products ............................ - - - - - - - - Textile mill products ....................... 18 17 18 14 3,203 2,656 2,294 1,696 Apparel and other textile products .......... 36 20 33 30 4,950 1,719 2,762 2,281 Paper and allied products ................... 8 13 19 8 613 2,019 1,899 695 Printing and publishing ..................... 7 ( 2 ) 6 ( 2 ) 501 ( 2 ) 480 ( 2 ) Chemicals and allied products ............... 5 5 4 6 442 358 265 438 Petroleum and coal products ................. 3 ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) 230 ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) Rubber and miscellaneous plastics products .. 8 14 12 14 759 1,822 976 1,185 Leather and leather products ................ 5 4 3 ( 2 ) 483 419 291 ( 2 ) Nonmanufacturing ................................ 423 416 441 349 41,124 54,184 45,615 33,697 Mining ........................................ 6 3 - ( 2 ) 632 311 - ( 2 ) Construction .................................. 78 52 54 58 6,464 4,361 3,584 4,929 Transportation and public utilities ........... 20 57 35 29 2,099 7,311 3,046 3,116 Wholesale and retail trade .................... 106 109 98 87 8,780 10,594 9,159 7,815 Wholesale trade ............................ 22 14 16 17 1,416 1,562 1,773 1,191 Retail trade ............................... 84 95 82 70 7,364 9,032 7,386 6,624 Finance, insurance, and real estate ........... 19 17 27 ( 2 ) 1,534 1,649 1,801 ( 2 ) Services ...................................... 194 178 227 155 21,615 29,958 28,025 15,842 Not identified .................................... 13 11 12 11 960 1,265 1,167 2,433 Government .......................................... 51 34 51 48 4,549 3,498 5,708 5,406 Federal ........................................... 16 14 22 18 1,607 1,646 2,983 2,397 State ............................................. 20 7 11 12 1,697 916 951 1,355 Local ............................................. 15 13 18 18 1,245 936 1,774 1,654 1 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia. 2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. p = preliminary. NOTE: Dash represents zero. Table 3. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance by census region and division Mass layoff events Initial claimants for unemployment insurance Census region and division October August September October October August September October 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) United States(1) ...... 1,098 751 936 874 118,938 97,215 106,842 103,755 Northeast ..................... 134 112 106 110 12,495 18,394 13,642 9,040 New England ............... 23 13 17 16 2,317 7,882 5,979 1,293 Middle Atlantic ........... 111 99 89 94 10,178 10,512 7,663 7,747 South ......................... 210 199 158 217 24,089 22,630 17,457 26,981 South Atlantic ............ 89 110 67 91 9,830 12,435 6,375 12,727 East South Central ........ 25 29 39 42 2,327 4,192 4,655 3,868 West South Central ........ 96 60 52 84 11,932 6,003 6,427 10,386 Midwest ....................... 189 139 179 180 34,317 18,187 25,529 30,047 East North Central ........ 151 112 140 144 27,819 15,263 18,454 24,434 West North Central ........ 38 27 39 36 6,498 2,924 7,075 5,613 West .......................... 565 301 493 367 48,037 38,004 50,214 37,687 Mountain .................. 31 44 31 35 2,738 5,623 2,727 4,185 Pacific ................... 534 257 462 332 45,299 32,381 47,487 33,502 1 See footnote 1, table 2. p = preliminary. NOTE: The States (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the census divisions are: New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; South Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia; East South Central: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee; West South Central: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; East North Central: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; West North Central: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; and Pacific: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. Table 4. State distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance Initial claimants for Mass layoff events unemployment insurance State October August September October October August September October 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) 1999 2000 2000(p) 2000(p) Total(1) ................. 1,098 751 936 874 118,938 97,215 106,842 103,755 Alabama ..................... 12 7 8 7 1,302 1,981 596 450 Alaska ...................... 3 - 3 ( 2 ) 198 - 282 ( 2 ) Arizona ..................... 7 4 3 9 546 406 240 959 Arkansas .................... 16 5 5 5 1,821 356 548 558 California .................. 499 244 430 302 41,919 30,706 43,042 30,578 Colorado .................... 4 3 ( 2 ) 4 336 333 ( 2 ) 380 Connecticut ................. 3 ( 2 ) - 3 300 ( 2 ) - 247 Delaware .................... - ( 2 ) - - - ( 2 ) - - District of Columbia ........ ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) Florida ..................... 34 38 20 32 2,215 3,073 1,662 2,880 Georgia ..................... 12 13 7 14 1,257 1,616 550 1,233 Hawaii ...................... 4 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 3 417 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 174 Idaho ....................... 6 15 ( 2 ) 6 588 2,404 ( 2 ) 801 Illinois .................... 43 33 39 39 9,682 6,582 5,592 5,692 Indiana ..................... 11 14 10 11 947 1,359 1,411 1,216 Iowa ........................ 9 4 8 9 3,560 431 1,254 736 Kansas ...................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 3 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 197 2,488 Kentucky .................... 3 12 17 15 243 1,450 2,988 1,565 Louisiana ................... 5 13 ( 2 ) 13 477 844 ( 2 ) 1,299 Maine ....................... 5 ( 2 ) 4 3 549 ( 2 ) 2,119 171 Maryland .................... 4 ( 2 ) 3 4 250 ( 2 ) 263 354 Massachusetts ............... 12 5 9 5 1,279 6,527 3,229 507 Michigan .................... 30 12 28 23 3,345 1,235 3,804 3,537 Minnesota ................... 7 8 7 10 869 812 1,909 1,104 Mississippi ................. 6 5 8 12 459 301 643 950 Missouri .................... 21 13 20 13 1,979 1,442 3,659 1,122 Montana ..................... ( 2 ) 3 - - ( 2 ) 625 - - Nebraska .................... - - - ( 2 ) - - - ( 2 ) Nevada ...................... 10 16 20 13 921 1,533 1,837 1,578 New Hampshire ............... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) New Jersey .................. 19 25 10 14 2,075 3,562 931 1,229 New Mexico .................. ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) 3 ( 2 ) - ( 2 ) 467 New York .................... 11 22 12 12 974 1,775 918 1,020 North Carolina .............. 12 26 8 15 1,457 2,383 833 3,717 North Dakota ................ - - - - - - - - Ohio ........................ 23 28 33 34 6,795 2,992 4,669 9,611 Oklahoma .................... 3 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 225 209 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) Oregon ...................... 18 7 19 7 1,818 1,252 3,209 638 Pennsylvania ................ 81 52 67 68 7,129 5,175 5,814 5,498 Rhode Island ................ - 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) - 336 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) South Carolina .............. 14 16 16 11 2,696 2,242 1,712 2,812 South Dakota ................ - - ( 2 ) - - - ( 2 ) - Tennessee ................... 4 5 6 8 323 460 428 903 Texas ....................... 72 39 44 65 9,409 4,594 5,529 8,477 Utah ........................ - 3 ( 2 ) - - 322 ( 2 ) - Vermont ..................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 236 Virginia .................... 12 11 12 12 1,821 2,604 1,182 1,432 Washington .................. 10 5 9 18 947 322 865 1,968 West Virginia ............... - 4 - ( 2 ) - 272 - ( 2 ) Wisconsin ................... 44 25 30 37 7,050 3,095 2,978 4,378 Wyoming ..................... - - - - - - - - Puerto Rico ................. 8 10 11 9 673 879 863 1,141 1 See footnote 1, table 2. 2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. p = preliminary. NOTE: Dash represents zero.