Employers in Florida took 852 mass layoff actions in 2012 that resulted in the separation of 62,173 workers, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1.) Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance has declined each of the last three years after reaching a series high of 131,190 in 2009. In 2012, initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 17,593.

Industry distribution

Of all the industry sectors in Florida, administrative and waste services experienced the most mass layoff events in 2012, with 279–more than twice the number occurring in any other industry. (See table 1.) This sector also had the largest number of initial claimants for unemployment insurance at 19,406, making up 31.2 percent of the state's total. Retail trade was second with 117 mass layoff events and 10,593 associated claims during the year, followed by accommodation and food services with 77 events and 5,910 claims. Combined, these three industries accounted for almost three-fifths of all initial claimants in the state in 2012.

Of the 14 sectors recording a drop in mass layoffs-related initial claimants from 2011 to 2012, administrative and waste services had the largest decrease at 7,553, followed by government with 3,291. Three other sectors finished 2012 with at least 1,000 fewer initial claimants than in 2011, construction (-1,730) accommodation and food services (-1,478) and retail trade (-1,471). On a percentage basis, construction experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in annual claims, down 53.7 percent, followed by government, down 48.5 percent.

In contrast, three sectors saw a rise in the number of initial claims associated with mass layoff events in 2012, led by arts, entertainment, and recreation, up 286 or 20.7 percent. Professional and technical services had the second highest increase in claims, up 132 or 4.5 percent, followed by finance and insurance (20, 1.1 percent).

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of mass layoff initial claims, 327,275, in 2012. New York ranked second with 141,137, followed by Pennsylvania (106,303) and New Jersey (85,979). Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia experienced over-the-year decreases in total initial claims for the year, led by California (-50,138), Wisconsin (-19,338), and Pennsylvania (-18,535). Fourteen states had increases in annual claims from 2011 to 2012, led by New York (21,739), North Carolina (19,537) and New Jersey (19,168). In three of these states, Arkansas, New Jersey, and North Carolina, initial claims reached a series high in 2012.

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 employers which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a consecutive 5-week period. These employers 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. The number of weeks in a given month may be different from year to year, and the number of weeks in a year may vary. Therefore, analysis of over-the-month and over-the-year change in not seasonally adjusted series 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.

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Definitions

Employer. Employers in the MLS program include those covered by state unemployment insurance laws. Information on employers is obtained from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, which is administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Industry. Employers are classified according to the 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For temporary help and professional employer organization industries, monthly MLS-related statistics generally reflect layoffs related to underlying client companies in other industries. An individual layoff action at a client company can be small, but when initial claimants associated with many such layoffs are assigned to a temporary help or professional employer organization firm, a mass layoff event may trigger.

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 employer during a 5-week period, regardless of duration.

Last Modified Date: April 3, 2013