Technical information: (202) 691-6392 USDL 08-0831
http://www.bls.gov/mls/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, June 20, 2008
MASS LAYOFFS IN MAY 2008
In May, employers took 1,626 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted,
as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the
month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single
employer; the number of workers involved totaled 171,387, on a seasonally
adjusted basis. Layoff events and associated initial claimants were the
highest for the month of May since 2003. The number of mass layoff events
in May 2008 increased sharply by 318 from the prior month, while the number
of associated initial claims rose by 37,473. In May, 528 mass layoff events
were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in
72,058 initial claims. Over the month, mass layoff events in manufacturing
increased by 45 and initial claims increased by 11,506. (See table 1.)
From January through May 2008, the total number of events (seasonally
adjusted), at 7,615, and initial claims (seasonally adjusted), at 783,942,
were considerably higher than in January-May 2007 (6,325 and 650,605,
respectively).
The national unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in May, seasonally adjusted,
up from 5.0 percent in the prior month and up from 4.5 percent a year earlier.
Total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 49,000 in May from the previous
month, but increased by 236,000 from a year earlier.
Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The number of mass layoff events in May was 1,552 on a not seasonally
adjusted basis; the number of associated initial claims was 159,471. (See
table 2.) Average weekly layoff events rose from 231 in May 2007 to 310 in
May 2008, while average weekly initial claimants increased from 21,454 to
31,894. Both the average weekly number of events and claims reached the
highest levels for the month of May since 2003.
The largest over-the-year increases in May 2008 average weekly initial
claims associated with mass layoffs occurred in transportation equipment
manufacturing (+1,766) and in transit and ground passenger transportation
(+1,176). The largest decreases occurred in general merchandise stores
(-256) and in textile mills (-126).
The manufacturing sector accounted for 25 percent of all mass layoff
events and 32 percent of initial claims filed in May; a year earlier,
manufacturing made up 24 percent of events and 31 percent of initial
claims. In May 2008, the number of manufacturing claimants was highest
in transportation equipment manufacturing (21,667), followed by food
manufacturing (4,800). (See table 3.) Administrative and waste services
accounted for 12 percent of mass layoff events and 10 percent of associated
initial claims in May, primarily from temporary help services.
The six-digit NAICS industry with the highest number of initial claims
was temporary help services with 8,389, followed by food service contractors
(7,376) and motion picture and video production (6,874). Among the 10 indus-
tries with the highest levels of initial claims, 7 of the 10 reached program
highs in 2008 for the month of May (with data available back to 1995).
(See table A.)
- 2 -
Table A. Industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims
in May 2008
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | May peak
Industry |Initial |----------------------
| claims | |
| | Year |Initial claims
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Temporary help services .....................| 8,389 | 2002 | 16,992
Food service contractors ....................| 7,376 | 2008 | 7,376
Motion picture and video production .........| 6,874 | 1999 | 8,985
School and employee bus transportation ......| 6,323 | 2008 | 6,323
Heavy duty truck manufacturing ..............| 5,053 | 2008 | 5,053
Child day care services .....................| 4,541 | 2008 | 4,541
Professional employer organizations .........| 4,085 | 2008 | 4,085
Other social advocacy organizations .........| 2,919 | 2008 | 2,919
Automobile manufacturing ....................| 2,763 | 2003 | 7,851
All other motor vehicle parts manufacturing .| 2,333 | 2008 | 2,333
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Of the 4 census regions, the highest number of initial claims in May
due to mass layoffs was in the West (45,558). The Midwest had the second
largest number of initial claims among the regions (45,462), followed by
the South with 42,832 and the Northeast with 25,619. (See table 5.)
All 4 regions experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly
initial claims--the Midwest (+3,156), the South (+2,944), the West (+2,365),
and the Northeast (+1,976). Eight of the 9 divisions had over-the-year
increases in average weekly initial claims, led by the East North Central
(+3,334).
California recorded the highest number of initial claims filed due to
mass layoff events in May with 34,085, largely due to layoffs in motion
picture and sound recording industries and in administrative and support
services. The next highest states reporting mass layoff initial claims
were New York (9,613), Pennsylvania (8,975), Florida (8,841), and Kentucky
(8,666). (See table 6.)
Forty states reported over-the-year increases in average weekly initial
claims associated with mass layoffs, led by California (+1,422), New York
(+1,333), Illinois (+843), and Florida (+752). States with the largest
over-the-year decreases in average weekly claims were Missouri (-705) and
Virginia (-162). In 2008, six states reported program highs in terms of
average weekly initial claims for the month of May (with data available
back to 1995)--Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Ohio.
______________________________
The report on Mass Layoffs in June 2008 is scheduled to be released on
Wednesday, July 23.
- 3 -
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; TDD message referral
phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
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 adminis-
tered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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.
Seasonal adjustment
Effective with the release of data for January 2005, BLS began publish-
ing six seasonally adjusted monthly MLS series. The six series are the
numbers of mass layoff events and mass layoff initial claims for the total,
private nonfarm, and manufacturing sectors.
Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing the effect
on time series data of regularly recurring seasonal events such as changes
in the weather, holidays, and the beginning and ending of the school year.
The use of seasonal adjustment makes it easier to observe fundamental changes
in time series, particularly those associated with general economic expan-
sions and contractions.
The MLS data are seasonally adjusted using the X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjust-
ment method on a concurrent basis. Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all
available monthly estimates, including those for the current month, in devel-
oping seasonal adjustment factors. Revisions to the most recent 5 years
of seasonally adjusted data will be made once a year with the issuance of
December data. Before the data are seasonally adjusted, prior adjustments
are made to the original data to adjust them for differences in the number
of weeks used to calculate the monthly data. Because weekly unemployment
insurance claims are aggregated to form monthly data, a particular month's
value could be calculated with 5 weeks of data in one year and 4 weeks
in another. The effects of these differences could seriously distort the
seasonal factors if they were ignored in the seasonal adjustment process.
These effects are modeled in the X-12-ARIMA program and are permanently
removed from the final seasonally adjusted series.
Table 1. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, June 2004 to
May 2008, seasonally adjusted
Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing
Date
Initial Initial Initial
Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants
2004
June ....................... 1,400 141,168 1,231 128,245 371 47,243
July ....................... 1,329 137,805 1,178 126,301 376 50,799
August ..................... 1,426 128,759 1,233 113,809 343 36,539
September .................. 1,285 127,833 1,154 116,843 336 45,690
October .................... 1,283 132,766 1,169 123,471 363 47,046
November ................... 1,320 130,873 1,174 119,029 380 45,416
December ................... 1,148 111,060 991 99,784 287 31,935
2005
January .................... 1,475 160,725 1,346 151,028 382 61,324
February ................... 1,146 121,455 1,020 110,480 353 43,568
March ...................... 1,207 131,271 1,066 120,945 372 53,673
April ...................... 1,252 136,752 1,125 126,550 401 60,681
May ........................ 1,248 136,420 1,104 123,495 398 54,999
June ....................... 1,196 127,084 1,078 118,012 368 58,300
July ....................... 1,250 132,445 1,103 119,566 357 46,602
August ..................... 1,144 125,686 1,000 113,762 341 47,598
September .................. 2,248 297,544 2,028 251,185 417 55,304
October .................... 1,101 110,035 982 100,934 321 43,230
November ................... 1,176 114,965 1,042 103,535 332 42,071
December ................... 1,261 134,461 1,132 123,418 360 46,863
2006
January .................... 1,107 110,800 988 101,494 283 34,037
February ................... 1,031 109,798 940 101,828 322 43,147
March ...................... 1,084 119,049 983 110,668 323 48,119
April ...................... 1,171 121,580 1,043 112,175 368 49,568
May ........................ 1,124 117,115 1,005 107,181 314 43,087
June ....................... 1,146 123,827 1,030 114,080 352 44,869
July ....................... 1,179 121,017 1,051 111,336 372 48,534
August ..................... 1,270 135,400 1,107 124,427 377 60,906
September .................. 1,173 123,767 1,056 114,677 385 45,767
October .................... 1,191 121,827 1,076 113,123 399 53,601
November ................... 1,232 133,803 1,121 124,559 414 58,385
December ................... 1,194 131,062 1,092 121,796 374 51,408
2007
January .................... 1,254 128,223 1,118 117,824 391 52,858
February ................... 1,352 143,837 1,238 135,066 416 61,749
March ...................... 1,277 130,981 1,169 122,488 412 52,606
April ...................... 1,243 126,977 1,116 116,926 382 43,930
May ........................ 1,199 120,587 1,096 113,069 370 48,910
June ....................... 1,238 129,858 1,116 120,165 351 40,670
July ....................... 1,247 127,687 1,140 119,614 392 51,333
August ..................... 1,228 121,886 1,128 114,628 335 36,518
September .................. 1,307 128,487 1,204 121,294 430 53,432
October .................... 1,347 136,124 1,224 127,163 430 57,695
November ................... 1,329 139,671 1,215 131,390 414 56,965
December ................... 1,433 141,750 1,315 133,024 462 58,108
2008
January .................... 1,438 144,111 1,317 134,347 427 55,488
February ................... 1,672 177,374 1,539 166,782 529 66,913
March ...................... 1,571 157,156 1,460 147,537 482 64,088
April ...................... 1,308 133,914 1,186 124,053 483 60,552
May ........................ 1,626 171,387 1,496 161,912 528 72,058
Table 2. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, June 2004 to
May 2008, not seasonally adjusted
Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing
Date
Initial Initial Initial
Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants
2004
June ....................... 1,379 134,588 1,077 110,804 222 27,307
July ....................... 2,094 253,929 1,860 234,877 885 145,895
August ..................... 809 69,033 745 63,876 194 17,698
September .................. 708 68,972 637 63,102 189 25,808
October .................... 1,242 127,918 1,101 117,375 372 48,265
November ................... 1,399 130,423 1,201 115,549 412 44,243
December ................... 1,614 161,271 1,487 152,092 436 50,726
2005
January .................... 2,564 263,952 2,421 253,409 823 108,985
February ................... 810 74,644 722 68,372 230 24,931
March ...................... 806 88,937 733 83,793 246 33,030
April ...................... 1,373 158,582 1,263 148,133 395 59,129
May ........................ 986 101,358 891 93,332 249 30,424
June ....................... 1,157 120,463 941 103,307 216 32,783
July ....................... 1,981 244,216 1,745 222,377 856 136,210
August ..................... 645 67,582 598 63,484 188 22,531
September .................. 1,662 213,281 1,505 179,042 318 47,497
October .................... 905 91,941 757 80,694 249 37,276
November ................... 1,254 116,127 1,079 102,182 363 41,442
December ................... 2,323 254,258 2,168 242,753 706 96,382
2006
January .................... 1,245 117,946 1,123 108,701 331 35,097
February ................... 719 66,555 658 62,208 210 24,892
March ...................... 921 111,838 856 106,177 285 44,688
April ...................... 1,140 121,589 1,038 112,964 296 39,538
May ........................ 872 84,809 794 78,663 192 23,570
June ....................... 1,489 164,761 1,224 140,687 319 41,095
July ....................... 1,511 166,857 1,335 154,342 648 96,152
August ..................... 708 72,844 656 69,054 203 28,494
September .................. 865 87,699 785 81,274 296 39,076
October .................... 964 98,804 820 88,133 311 46,737
November ................... 1,315 136,186 1,172 125,009 455 58,473
December ................... 2,249 254,503 2,126 244,783 735 105,462
2007
January .................... 1,407 134,984 1,263 124,475 456 53,615
February ................... 935 86,696 861 82,097 273 36,170
March ...................... 1,082 123,974 1,015 118,431 367 49,886
April ...................... 1,219 127,444 1,115 118,040 309 35,229
May ........................ 923 85,816 856 81,153 224 26,527
June ....................... 1,599 172,810 1,318 148,669 313 36,571
July ....................... 1,599 175,419 1,450 164,939 684 101,390
August ..................... 963 93,458 908 88,345 220 23,361
September .................. 717 67,385 667 64,026 246 29,381
October .................... 1,083 108,455 929 97,716 338 50,918
November ................... 1,799 198,220 1,593 181,184 514 75,413
December ................... 2,167 224,214 2,071 216,898 699 91,754
2008
January .................... 1,647 154,503 1,520 144,191 488 54,418
February ................... 1,269 119,508 1,178 113,587 361 42,527
March ...................... 1,089 114,541 1,039 110,147 333 43,740
April ...................... 1,272 130,810 1,172 121,625 394 48,188
May ........................ 1,552 159,471 1,438 150,462 388 51,698
Table 3. Industry distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance
Initial claimants for
Mass layoff events unemployment insurance
Industry
May March April May May March April May
2007 2008 2008 2008 2007 2008 2008 2008
Seasonally adjusted
Total ..................................... 1,199 1,571 1,308 1,626 120,587 157,156 133,914 171,387
Total, private nonfarm ........................ 1,096 1,460 1,186 1,496 113,069 147,537 124,053 161,912
Manufacturing ............................... 370 482 483 528 48,910 64,088 60,552 72,058
Not seasonally adjusted
Total (1) ................................. 923 1,089 1,272 1,552 85,816 114,541 130,810 159,471
Total, private .................................. 880 1,063 1,234 1,467 82,760 111,984 127,631 152,510
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting .. 24 24 62 29 1,607 1,837 6,006 2,048
Total, private nonfarm ........................ 856 1,039 1,172 1,438 81,153 110,147 121,625 150,462
Mining ...................................... (2) (2) (2) 5 (2) (2) (2) 458
Utilities ................................... 5 (2) (2) 4 439 (2) (2) 475
Construction ................................ 91 119 112 167 6,230 7,891 8,106 12,411
Manufacturing ............................... 224 333 394 388 26,527 43,740 48,188 51,698
Food .................................... 34 58 66 48 2,579 7,705 7,085 4,800
Beverage and tobacco products ........... (2) 6 4 5 (2) 540 422 273
Textile mills ........................... 9 14 10 6 920 2,745 1,065 520
Textile product mills (3) ............... (2) (2) 5 8 (2) (2) 700 580
Apparel (3) ............................. 5 8 10 14 562 544 872 1,171
Leather and allied products ............. - - (2) (2) - - (2) (2)
Wood products ........................... 20 30 33 24 1,823 2,419 3,973 2,455
Paper ................................... 8 9 7 11 680 827 419 1,091
Printing and related support activities . 7 9 11 9 551 736 1,136 833
Petroleum and coal products ............. (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
Chemicals ............................... 6 3 8 9 377 140 621 696
Plastics and rubber products (3) ........ 11 27 28 21 810 2,201 2,522 1,793
Nonmetallic mineral products ............ 7 15 14 14 583 1,224 1,251 1,175
Primary metals .......................... 13 10 14 9 963 873 1,386 1,217
Fabricated metal products ............... 10 20 22 29 699 1,878 1,612 2,596
Machinery (3) ........................... 16 15 19 25 1,430 2,447 2,393 3,758
Computer and electronic products ........ 11 10 15 14 758 917 1,544 1,250
Electrical equipment and appliances ..... 7 9 13 13 1,622 2,692 1,153 1,845
Transportation equipment (3) ............ 40 72 89 101 10,268 14,318 17,617 21,667
Furniture and related products (3) ...... 11 11 18 20 1,063 842 1,746 3,285
Miscellaneous manufacturing (3) ......... 5 4 3 5 613 301 395 445
Wholesale trade ............................. 10 22 26 21 1,021 1,624 2,649 1,513
Retail trade ................................ 87 94 95 109 7,827 9,788 7,933 10,090
Transportation and warehousing .............. 31 92 108 99 2,782 10,629 12,228 11,176
Information ................................. 23 35 33 56 4,355 4,316 3,446 9,251
Finance and insurance (3) ................... 33 46 43 38 2,414 3,692 2,978 2,666
Real estate and rental and leasing (3) ...... 4 5 7 6 344 552 864 407
Professional and technical services (3) ..... 41 24 59 66 3,168 3,225 7,282 6,924
Management of companies and enterprises ..... (2) (2) (2) 4 (2) (2) (2) 383
Administrative and waste services (3) ....... 119 130 168 192 9,762 10,076 16,831 16,175
Educational services ........................ 4 6 5 6 204 1,191 464 383
Health care and social assistance ........... 54 20 16 85 4,684 1,347 1,016 7,643
Arts, entertainment, and recreation ......... 20 8 28 32 1,166 492 2,078 1,993
Accommodation and food services ............. 87 90 68 122 8,401 10,328 6,743 13,212
Other services, except public administration 20 10 5 38 1,684 906 310 3,604
Unclassified ................................ - - - - - - - -
Government ...................................... 43 26 38 85 3,056 2,557 3,179 6,961
Federal ..................................... 8 7 7 16 634 569 490 1,656
State ....................................... 7 7 10 14 594 618 748 867
Local ....................................... 28 12 21 55 1,828 1,370 1,941 4,438
1 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.
2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
3 Data beginning in 2008 are not strictly comparable to prior years due to a change in NAICS versions.
NOTE: Dash represents zero.
Table 4. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, April 2006 to May 2008, not seasonally adjusted
Private nonfarm
Total mass layoffs Extended mass layoffs
Date Mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days Realization rates (1)
Initial Initial Initial Initial
Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants
2006
April ...................... 1,140 121,589 1,038 112,964
May ........................ 872 84,809 794 78,663
June ....................... 1,489 164,761 1,224 140,687
Second Quarter ............. 3,501 371,159 3,056 332,314 1,353 264,927 44.3 79.7
July ....................... 1,511 166,857 1,335 154,342
August ..................... 708 72,844 656 69,054
September .................. 865 87,699 785 81,274
Third Quarter .............. 3,084 327,400 2,776 304,670 929 161,764 33.5 53.1
October .................... 964 98,804 820 88,133
November ................... 1,315 136,186 1,172 125,009
December ................... 2,249 254,503 2,126 244,783
Fourth Quarter ............. 4,528 489,493 4,118 457,925 1,640 330,901 39.8 72.3
2007
January .................... 1,407 134,984 1,263 124,475
February ................... 935 86,696 861 82,097
March ...................... 1,082 123,974 1,015 118,431
First Quarter .............. 3,424 345,654 3,139 325,003 1,110 199,250 35.4 61.3
April ...................... 1,219 127,444 1,115 118,040
May ........................ 923 85,816 856 81,153
June ....................... 1,599 172,810 1,318 148,669
Second Quarter ............. 3,741 386,070 3,289 347,862 1,421 259,082 43.2 74.5
July ....................... 1,599 175,419 1,450 164,939
August ..................... 963 93,458 908 88,345
September .................. 717 67,385 667 64,026
Third Quarter .............. 3,279 336,262 3,025 317,310 1,019 173,518 33.7 54.7
October .................... 1,083 108,455 929 97,716
November ................... 1,799 198,220 1,593 181,184
December ................... 2,167 224,214 2,071 216,898
Fourth Quarter ............. 5,049 530,889 4,593 495,798 1,814 346,030 39.5 69.8
2008
January .................... 1,647 154,503 1,520 144,191
February ................... 1,269 119,508 1,178 113,587
March ...................... 1,089 114,541 1,039 110,147
First Quarter .............. 4,005 388,552 3,737 367,925 (2)(p)1,111 (2)(p)165,933 (p)29.7 (p)45.1
April ...................... 1,272 130,810 1,172 121,625
May ........................ 1,552 159,471 1,438 150,462
1 The event realization rate is the percentage of all private nonfarm mass layoff events lasting more than 30 days. The initial
claimant realization rate is the percentage of all private nonfarm mass layoff initial claimants associated with layoffs lasting
more than 30 days.
2 These quarterly numbers are provisional and will be revised as more data on these layoffs become available. Experience sug-
gests that the number of extended mass layoff events is generally revised upwards by less than 10 percent and the number of ini-
tial claimants associated with such events increases by 25-40 percent.
p = preliminary.
Table 5. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance by census region and division, not
seasonally adjusted
Initial claimants for
Mass layoff events unemployment insurance
Census region and division
May March April May May March April May
2007 2008 2008 2008 2007 2008 2008 2008
United States (1) ... 923 1,089 1,272 1,552 85,816 114,541 130,810 159,471
Northeast ................... 150 180 244 266 12,593 21,202 24,621 25,619
New England ............. 25 14 59 32 1,887 1,014 6,506 3,218
Middle Atlantic ......... 125 166 185 234 10,706 20,188 18,115 22,401
South ....................... 222 245 256 402 22,490 28,097 27,299 42,832
South Atlantic .......... 113 139 139 199 9,597 14,166 11,989 15,761
East South Central ...... 55 53 59 116 7,748 6,680 8,783 16,810
West South Central ...... 54 53 58 87 5,145 7,251 6,527 10,261
Midwest ..................... 217 287 330 390 23,747 34,885 37,169 45,462
East North Central ...... 153 224 267 312 15,731 27,847 31,172 36,332
West North Central ...... 64 63 63 78 8,016 7,038 5,997 9,130
West ........................ 334 377 442 494 26,986 30,357 41,721 45,558
Mountain ................ 29 43 67 62 2,309 4,001 7,701 5,548
Pacific ................. 305 334 375 432 24,677 26,356 34,020 40,010
1 See footnote 1, table 3.
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 6. State distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, not seasonally
adjusted
Initial claimants for
Mass layoff events unemployment insurance
State
May March April May May March April May
2007 2008 2008 2008 2007 2008 2008 2008
Total (1) ............ 923 1,089 1,272 1,552 85,816 114,541 130,810 159,471
Alabama ................. 14 11 21 35 1,379 927 2,789 4,044
Alaska .................. (2) (2) 4 (2) (2) (2) 499 (2)
Arizona ................. 6 9 30 9 524 808 4,424 872
Arkansas ................ 5 5 3 7 432 867 330 648
California .............. 270 296 321 382 21,582 21,812 28,172 34,085
Colorado ................ 3 6 5 8 276 533 455 930
Connecticut ............. 6 (2) 7 11 521 (2) 535 924
Delaware ................ - 4 3 3 - 298 920 203
District of Columbia .... (2) - - (2) (2) - - (2)
Florida ................. 60 63 65 125 4,066 5,145 4,130 8,841
Georgia ................. 21 20 29 32 2,641 3,302 2,606 3,170
Hawaii .................. 3 4 5 11 251 304 1,583 1,118
Idaho ................... (2) 12 3 12 (2) 1,187 206 1,131
Illinois ................ 30 51 47 59 3,074 6,694 4,646 8,058
Indiana ................. 18 27 40 44 1,416 3,870 4,031 4,943
Iowa .................... 5 11 13 12 481 1,051 1,474 3,033
Kansas .................. 10 8 5 12 613 1,069 359 893
Kentucky ................ 19 26 21 39 4,593 4,555 4,651 8,666
Louisiana ............... 8 6 5 22 878 411 396 3,101
Maine ................... (2) - 3 - (2) - 184 -
Maryland ................ 5 (2) 6 4 426 (2) 531 318
Massachusetts ........... 9 5 18 9 649 433 1,936 946
Michigan ................ 46 41 65 85 4,520 3,980 11,156 8,139
Minnesota ............... 9 9 15 10 1,090 617 1,148 1,075
Mississippi ............. 9 7 9 18 461 493 773 1,682
Missouri ................ 35 28 24 35 5,459 3,799 2,205 3,298
Montana ................. 6 (2) 3 6 419 (2) 212 437
Nebraska ................ (2) 6 3 5 (2) 412 453 413
Nevada .................. 6 7 16 14 429 522 1,558 1,057
New Hampshire ........... (2) 3 5 5 (2) 167 451 384
New Jersey .............. 31 34 34 38 2,936 4,007 3,070 3,813
New Mexico .............. 3 5 4 9 312 685 316 690
New York ................ 29 29 64 95 2,358 3,436 7,539 9,613
North Carolina .......... 8 16 6 9 547 1,367 555 1,163
North Dakota ............ (2) - (2) (2) (2) - (2) (2)
Ohio .................... 34 52 67 67 3,350 6,236 6,951 7,621
Oklahoma ................ 5 6 (2) 3 428 868 (2) 624
Oregon .................. 15 21 20 24 1,528 3,275 1,563 3,449
Pennsylvania ............ 65 103 87 101 5,412 12,745 7,506 8,975
Rhode Island ............ (2) 4 11 3 (2) 303 1,641 243
South Carolina .......... 6 17 22 11 473 1,659 2,563 809
South Dakota ............ (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
Tennessee ............... 13 9 8 24 1,315 705 570 2,418
Texas ................... 36 36 48 55 3,407 5,105 5,594 5,888
Utah .................... (2) (2) 5 4 (2) (2) 464 431
Vermont ................. 5 (2) 15 4 317 (2) 1,759 721
Virginia ................ 12 14 6 11 1,370 1,808 494 904
Washington .............. 15 12 25 13 1,206 913 2,203 1,211
West Virginia ........... - 3 (2) 3 - 428 (2) 277
Wisconsin ............... 25 53 48 57 3,371 7,067 4,388 7,571
Wyoming ................. (2) - (2) - (2) - (2) -
Puerto Rico ............. 12 4 17 17 978 344 1,437 2,626
1 See footnote 1, table 3.
2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
NOTE: Dash represents zero.
United States Department of Labor
