Technical information: (202) 691-6392 USDL 08-0204
http://www.bls.gov/mls/
For release: 10:00 A.M. EST
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Thursday, February 14, 2008
EXTENDED MASS LAYOFFS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2007
AND ANNUAL TOTALS FOR 2007
In the fourth quarter of 2007, there were 1,619 mass layoff events that
resulted in the separation of 265,454 workers from their jobs for at least
31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department
of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The construction industry experi-
enced a record high in both layoff events and separations in the fourth
quarter of 2007. Other industries registering fourth quarter highs in
terms of separated workers were arts, entertainment, and recreation and
finance and insurance, the latter mostly due to higher layoff activity
in credit intermediation and related activities. Both the total number
of layoff events and the number of separations were lower than during the
October-December 2006 time period. (See table A.) Fourth quarter 2007
layoff data are preliminary and are subject to revision. (See the Tech-
nical Note.)
Among the 7 categories of economic reasons for layoff, the completion
of seasonal work accounted for the highest share of events (42 percent)
and number of separations (119,325) in October-December 2007. Layoffs
due to business demand reasons had the next highest proportion of events
(34 percent). (See table B.) The only category of economic reasons for
which the number of separations increased over the year was financial
issues.
Sixty-one extended mass layoff events involved the movement of work and
were associated with the separation of 10,076 workers. (See table C.)
These events accounted for 7 percent of the nonseasonal layoff events and
nonseasonal separations.
- 2 -
Table A. Selected measures of extended mass layoff activity
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Period | Layoff events | Separations | Initial claimants
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
2003 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,502 | 286,947 | 297,608
April-June ...........| 1,799 | 368,273 | 348,966
July-September .......| 1,190 | 236,333 | 227,909
October-December .....| 1,690 | 325,333 | 326,328
| | |
2004 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,339 | 276,503 | 238,392
April-June ...........| 1,358 | 278,831 | 254,063
July-September .......| 886 | 164,608 | 148,575
October-December .....| 1,427 | 273,967 | 262,049
| | |
2005 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,142 | 186,506 | 185,486
April-June ...........| 1,203 | 246,099 | 212,673
July-September........| 1,136 | 201,878 | 190,186
October-December .....| 1,400 | 250,178 | 246,188
| | |
2006 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 963 | 183,089 | 193,510
April-June ...........| 1,353 | 295,964 | 264,927
July-September .......| 929 | 160,254 | 161,764
October-December (r)..| 1,640 | 296,662 | 330,901
| | |
2007 | | |
| | |
January-March (r).....| 1,111 | 226,074 | 199,295
April-June (r)........| 1,421 | 278,719 | 258,812
July-September (r)....| 1,019 | 160,806 | 172,508
October-December (p)..| 1,619 | 265,454 | 234,612
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
Permanent closure of worksites occurred in 8 percent of all extended
mass layoff events, the lowest proportion reported since collection began
in 1996. Events involving permanent closures affected 27,723 workers, down
from 43,158 separations reported during the fourth quarter 2006. Fifty-six
percent of employers reporting an extended layoff in the fourth quarter of
2007 indicated they anticipated some type of recall, about the same as last
year.
The national unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent, not seasonally ad-
justed, in the fourth quarter of 2007, up from 4.2 percent a year earlier.
Private nonfarm payroll employment, not seasonally adjusted, increased by
0.9 percent, or about 1.1 million, over the year.
For all of 2007, the total number of extended mass layoff events was 5,170,
affecting 931,053 workers. While the total number of layoff events increased
in 2007 from a year earlier, the number of separations decreased over the per-
iod. Additional information on the annual data is available starting on
page 8 of this release.
Industry Distribution of Extended Layoffs
Construction industries experienced a record high number of extended mass
layoff events (622) and separations (78,716) in the fourth quarter of 2007.
(See table 1.) The largest number of separations was in heavy and civil
engineering construction (44,151, mostly associated with highway, street,
and bridge construction), followed by specialty trade contractors (22,559)
and construction of buildings (12,006).
Manufacturing accounted for 24 percent of events and 27 percent of separa-
tions in the fourth quarter, largely in food manufacturing and transportation
equipment manufacturing. Layoffs in the administrative and waste services
sector accounted for 8 percent of all extended mass layoff events and 7 per-
cent of separations. The layoffs in this sector were concentrated in land-
scaping services. Cutbacks in the finance and insurance sector accounted for
6 percent of events and separations and were primarily in the credit interme-
diation and related activities industry.
Information technology-producing industries (communications equipment, com-
munications services, computer hardware, and software and computer services)
accounted for 24 extended mass layoff events and 3,351 separations during the
fourth quarter of 2007, the lowest figures reported for any quarter since 2000.
(See table 6.)
- 3 -
Table B. Distribution of extended layoff events and separations
by economic reason categories, October-December 2007(p)
----------------------------------------------------------------
| Layoff events | Separations
Category |---------------------------------------
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent
------------------------|---------------------------------------
| | | |
Total ................| 1,619 | 100.0 | 265,454 | 100.0
| | | |
Business demand.........| 548 | 33.8 | 73,241 | 27.6
Organizational changes .| 81 | 5.0 | 21,122 | 8.0
Financial issues .......| 111 | 6.9 | 22,238 | 8.4
Production specific ....| 22 | 1.4 | 3,655 | 1.4
Disaster/safety ........| 5 | .3 | 692 | .3
Seasonal ...............| 683 | 42.2 | 119,325 | 45.0
Other/miscellaneous ....| 169 | 10.4 | 25,181 | 9.5
| | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------
p = preliminary.
Reasons for Extended Layoffs
Among the seven categories of economic reasons for extended mass layoffs,
42 percent of the events were related to seasonal factors (seasonal and
vacation period). These events resulted in 119,325 separations during the
fourth quarter of 2007. (See table 2.) Seasonal job cuts were most numer-
ous in heavy and civil engineering construction (highway, street, and bridge
construction), amusements, gambling, and recreation (amusement and theme parks),
and in specialty trade contractors (nonresidential site preparation contractors).
Business demand reasons (contract cancellation, contract completion, domes-
tic competition, excess inventory, import competition, and slack work) accounted
for 34 percent of the extended layoff events and resulted in 73,241 separations,
primarily in specialty trade contractors and in heavy and civil engineering con-
struction.
Job losses related to financial issues (bankruptcy, cost control, and
financial difficulty) accounted for 7 percent of events and resulted in
22,238 separations. These layoffs were most common among workers in credit
intermediation and related activities and in hospitals.
Over-the-year decreases in separations were reported in 6 of the 7 cate-
gories of economic reasons for layoffs, with the largest declines in organiza-
tional change (-14,995) and seasonal (-10,207). Separations due to financial
issues registered the only over-the-year increase (+8,169).
- 4 -
Table C. Extended mass layoff events and separations, selected
measures, fourth quarter 2007(p)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Action | Layoff events | Separations
| |
-----------------------------------|-----------------|-----------------
| |
Total, private nonfarm ............| 1,619 | 265,454
| |
Total, excluding seasonal | |
and vacation events (1) ......| 936 | 146,129
| |
Total events with movement | |
of work (2) ................| 61 | 10,076
| |
Movement of work actions ...| 80 | (3)
With separations reported.| 61 | 6,682
With separations unknown .| 19 | (3)
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 The questions on movement of work were not asked of employers when
the reason for layoff was either seasonal work or vacation period.
2 A layoff event can involve more than one movement of work action.
3 Data are not available.
p = preliminary.
Movement of Work
Between October and December of 2007, 61 extended mass layoff events
involved the movement of work and were associated with the separation of
10,076 workers. (See table C.) These movements of work were to other
domestic locations or to locations outside of the U.S., and they occurred
either within the same company or to other companies. A year earlier,
there were 69 layoff events and 15,782 separations associated with the
movement of work. (See table 10.)
Among the 61 extended mass layoff events with reported relocation of
work in the fourth quarter of 2007, 66 percent were permanent closures of
worksites, which affected 7,147 workers. In comparison, 8 percent of the
total extended mass layoff events reported for the quarter involved the
permanent closure of worksites.
Of the layoffs involving the movement of work, 70 percent of the events
and 71 percent of the laid-off workers were from manufacturing industries
during the fourth quarter. (See table 7.) Among all private nonfarm ex-
tended layoffs, manufacturing accounted for 24 percent of the events and
27 percent of the separations.
- 5 -
Table D. Movement of work actions by type of separation where the
number of separations is known by employers, fourth quarter 2007(p)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Activities | Actions (1) | Separations
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
With separations reported ......| 61 | 6,682
| |
By location | |
| |
Out-of-country relocations ..| 24 | 2,667
Within company ............| 23 | 2,580
Different company .........| 1 | 87
| |
Domestic relocations ........| 37 | 4,015
Within company ............| 36 | 3,835
Different company .........| 1 | 180
| |
By company | |
| |
Within company ..............| 59 | 6,415
Domestic ..................| 36 | 3,835
Out of country ............| 23 | 2,580
| |
Different company ...........| 2 | 267
Domestic ..................| 1 | 180
Out of country ............| 1 | 87
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Only actions for which separations associated with the movement
of work were reported are shown.
p = preliminary.
While 5 percent of the extended mass layoff events in the total pri-
vate nonfarm economy were because of organizational change, such changes
accounted for 44 percent of layoff events associated with work reloca-
tion and resulted in 4,605 separations during the fourth quarter. (See
table 8.)
Among the regions, the Midwest accounted for the largest proportion of
workers affected by extended mass layoffs associated with the movement
of work (57 percent), followed by the South (21 percent), the Northeast
(14 percent), and the West (9 percent). (See table 9.)
Some extended mass layoff events involve more than one relocation of
work action. For example, an extended mass layoff event at an employer
may involve job loss due to movement of work to both another domestic
location of the company and a location out of the country. This would be
counted as two movement of work actions. The 61 extended layoff events
with movement of work for the fourth quarter of 2007 involved 80 identi-
fiable relocations of work. (See table C.) An identifiable relocation of
work occurs when the employer provides sufficient information on the new
location of work and/or the number of workers affected by the movement. Of
the 80 relocations, employers were able to provide information on the speci-
fic number of separations associated with the movement of work component of
the layoff in 61 actions involving 6,682 workers. (See table 10.)
In the 61 actions where employers were able to provide more complete
separations information, 97 percent of relocations (59 out of 61) occurred
within the same company. (See table D.) Sixty-one percent of these relo-
cations (37 out of 61) were domestic reassignments, while 39 percent invol-
ved out-of-country moves (24 out of 61). Domestic relocation of work--both
within the company and to other companies--affected 4,015 workers. Out-of-
country relocations were associated with the separation of 2,667 workers,
2 percent of all nonseasonal and nonvacation extended mass layoff separa-
tions. (See table 11.)
- 6 -
Table E. Summary of employer expectations of a recall from extended
layoff, fourth quarter 2006-fourth quarter 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Percentage of events
Nature of the recall |_________________________________________
| | | | |
| IV | I | II | III | IV
| 2006 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007(r)| 2007(p)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
Anticipate a recall .......| 56.7 | 40.1 | 57.1 | 37.9 | 56.5
| | | | |
Timeframe | | | | |
| | | | |
Within 6 months ...........| 89.8 | 83.6 | 87.5 | 83.9 | 88.0
Within 3 months .........| 38.9 | 51.3 | 59.7 | 62.7 | 33.7
| | | | |
Size | | | | |
| | | | |
At least half .............| 93.5 | 87.2 | 93.3 | 86.0 | 91.1
All workers .............| 53.7 | 38.6 | 57.2 | 45.6 | 50.3
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
Recall Expectations
Fifty-six percent of employers reporting an extended layoff in the fourth
quarter of 2007 indicated they anticipated some type of recall, about the
same as a year earlier. (See table E.) Of those employers expecting to re-
call workers, 50 percent anticipated recalling all of the separated employees,
91 percent anticipated extending the offer to at least half of all laid-off
employees, and 88 percent expected a recall within 6 months.
Excluding layoff events due to seasonal work and vacation period (in which
98 percent of the employers expected a recall), employers anticipated recalling
laid-off workers in 26 percent of the events, essentially unchanged from 27 per-
cent a year earlier.
Size of Extended Layoffs
The average size of a layoff (as measured by separations per layoff event)
in the fourth quarter 2007 was 164, compared to 181 per layoff in 2006. The
average differed widely by industry, ranging from a low of 75 in clothing and
clothing accessories stores to a high of 776 in transit and ground passenger
transportation.
- 7 -
Table F. Distribution of extended layoff events by size of layoff,
fourth quarter 2007(p)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Layoff events | Separations
Size |---------------------------------------
| | | |
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Total ..................| 1,619 | 100.0 | 265,454 | 100.0
| | | |
50-99 .....................| 720 | 44.5 | 50,227 | 18.9
100-149 ...................| 392 | 24.2 | 46,512 | 17.5
150-199 ...................| 163 | 10.1 | 26,985 | 10.2
200-299 ...................| 175 | 10.8 | 40,286 | 15.2
300-499 ...................| 104 | 6.4 | 36,636 | 13.8
500-999 ...................| 43 | 2.7 | 28,790 | 10.8
1,000 or more .............| 22 | 1.4 | 36,018 | 13.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------
p = preliminary.
Layoff events during October-December 2007 continued to be concentrated
at the lower end of the extended layoff-size spectrum, with 69 percent of
the events involving fewer than 150 workers. Layoffs involving less than
150 workers accounted for 36 percent of all separations during the period,
compared to 32 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. Separations in-
volving 500 or more workers, while comprising only 4 percent of the events,
accounted for 24 percent of all separations, down from 28 percent a year
earlier. (See table F.)
Initial Claimant Characteristics
A total of 234,612 initial claimants for unemployment insurance were
associated with extended mass layoffs in the fourth quarter of 2007. Of
these claimants, 12 percent were black, 18 percent were Hispanic, 29 per-
cent were women, 36 percent were 30 to 44 years of age, and 16 percent
were 55 years of age or older. (See table 3.) Among persons in the civil-
ian labor force for the same period, 11 percent were black, 14 percent
were Hispanic, 47 percent were women, 33 percent were age 30 to 44, and
18 percent were 55 years of age or older.
Geographic Distribution
Among the 4 census regions, the highest number of separations due to
extended mass layoff events in the fourth quarter of 2007 was in the Midwest,
with 110,899, followed by the West, with 79,404. (See table 4.) Extended mass
layoffs in the Midwest were largely in heavy and civil engineering construction
and in specialty trade contractors.
The Midwest region reported the largest over-the-year decrease in separa-
tions (-20,206), mainly due to fewer layoffs in transportation equipment manu-
facturing, followed by the South (-10,900). The West region experienced the
only over-the-year increase in separations (+9,190), due in part to layoffs in
food manufacturing. Six of the 9 geographic divisions reported over-the-year
decreases in laid-off workers, with the largest declines occurring in the East
North Central (-18,848) and South Atlantic (-11,507) divisions. The Pacific
division reported the largest increase in separations (+12,536).
California recorded the largest number of worker separations (58,922), fol-
lowed by Illinois (30,467), Ohio (19,959), Michigan (16,067), Wisconsin (12,107),
and Minnesota (12,047). These six states accounted for 59 percent of total ex-
tended mass layoff events and 56 percent of total separations during the fourth
quarter of 2007. (See table 5.) After excluding the substantial impact of sea-
sonal reasons, California still reported the highest number of job cuts (49,548),
largely due to layoffs in credit intermediation and related activities and in
specialty trade contractors.
- 8 -
Table G. Mass layoff events and separations, selected metropolitan areas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Events | Separations
Metropolitan area |-----------------|-----------------
| | | |
| IV | IV | IV | IV
| 2006(r)| 2007(p)| 2006(r)| 2007(p)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Total, nonmetropolitan areas ...............| 259 | 189 | 36,079 | 36,446
| | | |
Total, 369 metropolitan areas ..............| 858 | 814 |l55,348 |121,829
| | | |
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. .| 92 | 100 | 14,974 | 15,687
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. ..| 72 | 91 | 10,589 | 11,691
Detriot-Warren-Livonia, Mich. .............| 45 | 45 | 12,224 | 9,541
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long | | | |
Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. ....................| 44 | 38 | 5,338 | 6,610
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, | | | |
Minn.-Wis. ...............................| 41 | 37 | 6,565 | 5,874
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. ..| 20 | 39 | 1,842 | 4,086
Medford, Ore. .............................| 3 | 3 | 3,680 | 3,250
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. .....| 12 | 30 | 1,678 | 3,171
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ....| 14 | 15 | 3,282 | 2,991
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. .....| 22 | 33 | 2,294 | 2,828
| | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown in
this table are defined in Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 07-01,
December 18, 2006.
Over the year, Michigan reported the greatest decrease in separated workers in
extended layoffs during the fourth quarter (-9,307), followed by Florida (-8,514)
and New York (-4,182). The largest increases occurred in California (+18,483),
Tennessee (+5,073), and Iowa (+2,288).
Fifty percent of events and 46 percent of separations (121,829) occurred in met-
ropolitan areas in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with 52 percent of events
and 52 percent of separations (155,348) during the fourth quarter of 2006. Among
the 369 metropolitan areas, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., reported the
highest number of separations (15,687) in the fourth quarter of 2007. Next were
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana,Calif., with 11,691 separations and Detroit-Warren-
Livonia, Mich., with 9,541 separations. (See table G.) Employers located in non-
metropolitan areas separated 36,446 workers in extended mass layoffs, essentially
unchanged from 36,079 workers in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Review of 2007
For all of 2007, employers reported 5,170 extended mass layoff actions, affecting
931,053 workers. Compared to 2006, the number of events was up from 4,885, but the
number of separations was down slightly from 935,969. (See table H.) The annual
average national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.6 percent from 2006, while
private nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1.1 percent, or 1,310,000 jobs.
- 9 -
Table H. Selected measures of mass layoff activity, 1996-2007
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Period | Layoff events | Separations | Initial claimants
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
1996 ..............| 4,760 | 948,122 | 805,810
1997 ..............| 4,671 | 947,843 | 879,831
1998 ..............| 4,859 | 991,245 | 1,056,462
1999 ..............| 4,556 | 901,451 | 796,917
2000 ..............| 4,591 | 915,962 | 846,267
2001 ..............| 7,375 | 1,524,832 | 1,457,512
2002 ..............| 6,337 | 1,272,331 | 1,218,143
2003 ..............| 6,181 | 1,216,886 | 1,200,811
2004 ..............| 5,010 | 993,909 | 903,079
2005 ..............| 4,881 | 884,661 | 834,533
2006 (r) ..........| 4,885 | 935,969 | 951,102
2007 (p) ..........| 5,170 | 931,053 | 865,227
| | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
Eleven percent of extended events in 2007 were permanent closures, accounting
for 124,937 worker separations. Permanent closures were most numerous in the
manufacturing sector, primarily in transportation equipment manufacturing, plas-
tics and rubber products, food, and computer and electronic products. When com-
pared with 2006, layoff activity resulting in permanent closures decreased in 2007.
In 2007, employers expected a recall in 49 percent of the mass layoff events,
down from 52 percent of events in 2006.
Industry Distribution of Extended Layoffs
Manufacturing had the largest share of extended events and separations in 2007--
25 percent of both. Separations were most numerous in transportation equipment
manufacturing (59,150, mainly in motor vehicle manufacturing) and in food manufac-
turing (42,541, largely fruit and vegetable canning and fresh and frozen seafood
processing). Compared to 2006, 13 of the 21 manufacturing subgroups had decreases
in the number of separations, with the largest decreases occurring in transporta-
tion equipment manufacturing (-22,128) and food manufacturing (-7,688). Fabricated
metal product manufacturing had the largest increase (+2,650), followed by machinery
manufacturing (+2,404) and wood product manufacturing (+2,209).
The construction, and finance and insurance industries, both had the highest levels
of layoff events and separations since the series began in 1996. Construction lay-
offs were primarily concentrated in heavy and civil engineering construction (highway,
street, and bridge construction), and layoffs in finance and insurance were highest in
credit intermediation and related activities (real estate credit).
Reasons for Extended Layoffs
In 2007, seasonal factors (seasonal and vacation period) were the most-cited reason
for layoff among the seven categories, accounting for 35 percent of all layoff events
and 38 percent of all separations, unchanged from 2006. Seasonal layoffs in 2007 oc-
curred primarily in transit and ground passenger transportation, heavy and civil engi-
neering construction, and food services and drinking places.
- 10 -
Layoff activity due to business demand reasons (contract cancellation, contract
completion, domestic competition, excess inventory, import competition, and slack
work) also accounted for 35 percent of the extended mass layoff events and resulted in
237,301 separations. Business demand layoffs occurred largely among specialty trade
contractors, transportation equipment manufacturing, administrative and support ser-
vices, and heavy and civil engineering construction.
Over-the-year decreases in separations were reported in 5 of the 7 categories of
economic reasons for layoffs, with the largest declines in organizational change
(-27,228) and in business demand reasons (-20,577). Separations due to financial
issues (+50,042) increased over the year.
Movement of Work
In 2007, there were 259 extended mass layoff events that involved work moving
within the same company or to a different company, domestically or out of the U.S.
The events involving movement of work were associated with the separation of 45,212
workers, about 8 percent of all separations resulting from nonseasonal/nonvacation
mass layoff events. Sixty-nine percent of events with movement of work involved the
permanent closure of a worksite, affecting 32,444 workers. Manufacturing industries
accounted for more than two-thirds of the events and separations involving movement
of work, mostly in transportation equipment manufacturing and in computer and electric
product manufacturing. Among the regions, the South accounted for the largest propor-
tion of laid-off workers associated with the movement of work (34 percent), followed
by the Midwest (31 percent).
As part of the 259 layoff events, 342 identifiable movement-of-work actions were
taken by employers. Employers were able to provide information on specific separa-
tions associated with the movement of work component of the layoff in 248 actions (out
of the 342), which totaled 29,709 laid-off workers. Thus for 2007, the number of se-
parations due to the movement of work ranged between 29,709 (separations in movement-of-
work actions where the employer was able to provide specific detail) to 45,212 (total
separations in all layoff events that included movement of work).
Of the 248 movement-of-work actions for which complete information is available,
2 out of 3 relocations were to other locations within the U.S., and 88 percent involved
moving work within the company. The separation of 11,526 workers was associated with
out-of-country relocations, which accounts for 39 percent of the separations related
to the movement of work and 2 percent of all separations in nonseasonal/nonvacation
extended mass layoff events.
Geographic Distribution
The West reported more workers affected by extended mass layoffs in 2007 than any
other region, 333,954. In the West, food and beverage stores had the largest number of
separations, with 51,365, followed by credit intermediation and related activities, and
specialty trade contractors. The South region reported the lowest annual number of se-
parations (152,509). Compared to 2006, 3 of the 4 geographic regions reported a decrease
in laid-off workers, with the largest decline in the South (-47,302). The West had the
only over-the-year increase (+86,650).
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, California reported the largest
number of separated workers in 2007 (252,805), the highest number of annual separa-
tions since 2003 and the highest number of extended mass layoff events in the program’s
history. States with the next highest number of separations due to extended mass lay-
offs were Illinois (81,719), Michigan (53,504), New York (51,755), Ohio (43,831), and
New Jersey (41,389). These six states accounted for 55 percent of events and 56 per-
cent of separations in 2007. Florida recorded the largest over-the-year decline in
separations (-41,635); California had the largest over-the-year increase in the number
of separations (+91,998).
- 11 -
Among the 369 metropolitan areas, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif., reported
the highest number of separations, 45,824. The next highest numbers of separations
were in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., with 35,424 and New York-Northern
New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa., with 34,287. Employers located in nonmetropoli-
tan areas separated 101,238 workers in mass layoffs during 2007, essentially unchanged
from 2006.
Note
The quarterly series on extended mass layoffs cover layoffs of at least 31-days
duration that involve 50 or more individuals from a single employer filing initial
claims for unemployment insurance during a consecutive 5-week period. Approximately
30 days after a mass layoff is triggered, the employer is contacted for additional
information. Data for the fourth quarter are preliminary and subject to revision.
This release also includes revised data for previous quarters. Data are not season-
ally adjusted, but survey data suggest that there is a seasonal pattern to layoffs.
Thus, comparisons between consecutive quarters should not be used as an indicator of
trend.
For additional information about the program, see the Technical Note.
_____________________________
The report on Mass Layoffs in January 2008 is scheduled to be released on
Wednesday, February 27, 2008.
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| |
| Upcoming Changes to Mass Layoff Data |
| |
| With the release of January 2008 data on February 27, 2008, the Mass |
|Layoff Statistics program will revise the basis for industry classification|
|from the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to the |
|2007 NAICS. The new classification reflects minor definitional changes |
|within manufacturing, telecommunications, financial activities, and profes-|
|sional, scientific, and technical services. Several industry titles and |
|descriptions will also be updated. |
| |
| For additional information on the 2007 NAICS, see http://www.census.gov/|
| epcd/www/naics.html. |
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