Employers in Washington took 229 mass layoff actions in 2011 that resulted in the separation of 20,988 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 Richard J. Holden noted that the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 1,642 or 8.5 percent from the previous year. Despite increasing over the year, the number of mass layoff initial claims in 2011 was still 45.1 percent below the peak of 38,207 reached in 2002.

Industry distribution

Of all the industry sectors in Washington, manufacturing experienced the most mass layoff events in 2011 with 48. (See table 1.) This sector also had the largest number of initial claimants at 4,444, making up 21.2 percent of the state’s total. (See chart 1.) Administrative and waste services and construction ranked second (3,298) and third (3,192) highest , respectively, in initial claims during the year. Combined, these three industries accounted for over one-half of all initial claimants in the state in 2011.

Administrative and waste services had the largest increase in mass layoff-related related initial claims from 2010 to 2011 at 1,248, followed by manufacturing (648) and local government (321). In 2010, each of these three sectors had recorded a drop of more than 1,000 claims from the previous year. On a percentage basis, local government experienced the largest over-the-year increase in annual claims, up 65.1 percent; administrative and waste services had the second largest gain, up 60.9 percent. (See table A.)

Table A. Sectors with at least 300 more mass layoff initial claims in 2011, Washington

Sector	Net change from 2009–10	Net change from 2010–11
Administrative and waste services	-1,179	1,248
Manufacturing	-3,240	648
Local government	-1,108	321

Of those industry sectors recording a drop in mass layoffs-related initial claims from 2010 to 2011, only two decreased by more than 200—federal government, down 343 or 71.8 percent, and state government, down 201 or 25.7 percent.  Two more sectors, retail trade and construction, were the only others to record a drop in claimants of more than 100 from the previous year.

State Comparisons

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of mass layoff initial claims, 377,413, in 2011. Pennsylvania ranked second with 124,838, followed by New York (119,398) and Florida (79,766). Twenty-nine states experienced over-the-year decreases in total initial claims for the year, led by California (-42,396), Illinois (-19,191), and Florida (-9,010). One state, South Dakota, experienced no change in its initial claims count, while twenty states and the District of Columbia had increases in annual claims from 2010 to 2011, led by North Carolina (22,393) and Pennsylvania (12,270). In three of these states, Arkansas, Nebraska, and North Carolina, initial claims reached a series high in 2011.

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.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

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.

Additional information

For personal assistance or further information on the Mass Layoffs Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Western Information Office at (415) 625-2270 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PT.

Table 1. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, Washington, selected sectors, annual totals

Industry	Mass layoff events				Initial claims for unemployment insurance
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2008	2009	2010	2011
Total, all industries (1)	260	325	230	229	26,446	28,539	19,346	20,988
Total private	249	296	210	212	25,579	25,728	17,593	19,458
Agriculture forestry fishing and hunting	20	17	23	19	1,487	1,658	1,969	1,877
Crop production	4	(3)	4	(3)	241	(3)	334	(3)
Agriculture and forestry support activities	15	15	19	17	1,172	1,502	1,635	1,730
Total private nonfarm	229	279	187	193	24,092	24,070	15,624	17,581
Construction	44	51	45	39	3,443	3,998	3,338	3,192
Construction of buildings	9	10	6	(3)	659	773	438	(3)
Heavy and civil engineering construction	17	13	17	13	1,395	1,037	1,144	1,122
Specialty trade contractors	18	28	22	23	1,389	2,188	1,756	1,829
Manufacturing	73	85	47	48	10,934	7,036	3,796	4,444
Food	24	30	29	33	2,095	2,437	2,226	2,944
Wood products	16	13	(3)	7	1,702	986	(3)	773
Transportation equipment (2)	13	12	7	(3)	5,470	1,199	630	(3)
Wholesale trade	5	(3)	(3)	3	338	(3)	(3)	194
Retail trade	19	38	24	22	1,513	3,504	2,243	2,069
Food and beverage stores	(3)	7	(3)	4	(3)	618	(3)	302
General merchandise stores	11	16	12	10	922	1,475	1,271	1,112
Transportation and warehousing	13	17	15	14	1,389	1,500	1,367	1,463
Transit and ground passenger transportation	8	8	8	7	955	772	908	936
Information	6	8	4	(3)	487	768	382	(3)
Administrative and support services (2)	30	34	22	29	2,479	3,229	2,050	2,609
Waste management and remediation services	(3)	-	-	6	(3)	-	-	689
Food services and drinking places	11	9	12	9	1,078	881	902	872
Federal	1	4	5	2	62	294	478	135
State	7	12	9	7	508	916	782	581
Local	3	13	6	8	297	1,601	493	814
Footnotes: (1) Total includes all industries including those not listed in the table. (2) Data beginning in 2008 are not strictly comparable to prior years due to a change in NAICS versions. (3) Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.

Last Modified Date: July 24, 2012