For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, June 20, 2012 USDL-12-1245
Technical information: (202) 691-6392 * mlsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/mls
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
MASS LAYOFFS -- MAY 2012
Employers took 1,380 mass layoff actions in May involving 130,191 workers, seasonally
adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the
month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Each mass layoff involved
at least 50 workers from a single employer. Mass layoff events in May decreased by 8
from April, and the number of associated initial claims decreased by 5,409. Year-to-
date mass layoff events (6,768) and initial claims (636,484) both recorded their lowest
figures since 2007. In May, 264 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing
sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 29,675 initial claims. (See table 1.)
The national unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May, essentially unchanged from the
prior month but down from 9.0 percent a year earlier. Total nonfarm payroll employment
increased by 69,000 over the month and by 1,782,000 over the year.
Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The number of mass layoff events in May was 1,201, not seasonally adjusted, resulting
in 109,259 initial claims for unemployment insurance. (See table 2.) Over the year, the
number of average weekly mass layoff events decreased by 42 to 300, while associated
average weekly initial claims decreased by 2,663 to 27,315. Thirteen of the 19 major
industry sectors in the private economy reported over-the-year decreases in average
weekly initial claims, with the largest decrease occurring in manufacturing. (See
table 3.) In May 2012, the six-digit industry with the largest number of private
nonfarm initial claims was food service contractors. (See table A.)
Table A. Six-digit NAICS industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims
in May 2012, private nonfarm, not seasonally adjusted
Industry May peak
Initial claims Year Initial claims
Food service contractors ........................ 10,326 2009 11,216
Temporary help services (1) ..................... 6,857 2002 16,992
Child day care services ......................... 5,962 2011 6,616
Motion picture and video production ............. 4,131 1999 8,985
Department stores, except discount .............. 2,868 2009 3,379
School and employee bus transportation .......... 2,632 2008 6,323
Discount department stores ...................... 2,390 2002 3,981
Light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing ... (2) 2009 3,570
Professional employer organizations (1) ......... 1,517 2009 5,898
Industrial building construction ................ 1,423 2003 3,463
1 See the Technical Note for more information on these industries.
2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
In May 2012, the manufacturing sector accounted for 17 percent of mass layoff events and
19 percent of associated initial claims in the private economy. Within manufacturing,
the numbers of mass layoff claimants were highest in food and in transportation equipment.
Sixteen of the 21 manufacturing subsectors experienced over-the-year decreases in average
weekly initial claims, with the largest decrease occurring in food manufacturing. (See
table 3.)
Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the census regions, the South registered the largest number of initial claims in
May. Two of the 4 regions experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly initial
claims, with the largest decrease occurring in the South. (See table 4.)
Among the states, California recorded the highest number of mass layoff initial claims
in May, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, and Texas. Thirty-four states and
the District of Columbia experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly initial
claims, led by Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, and Florida. (See table 4.)
Note
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. For private
nonfarm establishments, 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"). The quarterly release provides more
information on the industry classification and location of the establishment and on
the demographics of the laid-off workers. The monthly data series in this release are
subjected to average weekly analysis, which mitigates the effect of differing lengths
of months. See the Technical Note for more detailed definitions and for a description
of average weekly analysis.
____________
The Mass Layoffs news release for June is scheduled to be released on Friday,
July 20, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).
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, data users who intend to perform analysis of over-the-year
change in the not seasonally adjusted series should use the average weekly
mass layoff figures displayed in tables 3 and 4 of this release. The average
weekly adjustment process produces a consistent series for each month across
all years, permitting over-the-year analysis to be performed using strictly
comparable data.
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
Average weekly mass layoff events and initial claimants. The number of
events and initial claimants in a given month divided by the number of weeks
contained within that month.
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 employers 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.
Seasonal adjustment
Effective with the release of data for January 2005, BLS began publishing
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 expansions
and contractions.
The MLS data are seasonally adjusted using the X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjustment
method on a concurrent basis. Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all available
monthly estimates, including those for the current month, in developing 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 1 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 2008 to
May 2012, seasonally adjusted
Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing
Date
Initial Initial Initial
Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants
2008
June ....................... 1,612 163,425 1,471 152,133 491 68,862
July ....................... 1,589 163,572 1,452 153,060 465 62,210
August ..................... 1,763 181,853 1,632 172,147 578 77,464
September .................. 2,159 229,180 1,990 215,749 629 82,011
October .................... 2,201 226,853 2,043 213,454 698 93,252
November ................... 2,406 239,239 2,247 225,404 907 103,836
December ................... 2,437 244,889 2,261 230,621 935 116,181
2009
January .................... 2,254 235,371 2,083 221,653 726 92,293
February ................... 3,059 326,392 2,901 310,378 1,251 145,839
March ...................... 2,999 299,322 2,800 282,414 1,230 154,168
April ...................... 2,566 249,129 2,349 232,632 1,007 116,051
May ........................ 2,710 284,468 2,516 267,869 1,181 147,184
June ....................... 2,466 247,597 2,257 230,502 1,048 137,649
July ....................... 2,186 222,941 1,979 203,911 636 75,728
August ..................... 2,340 216,047 2,115 197,172 751 77,894
September .................. 2,261 214,018 2,048 198,761 786 91,125
October .................... 1,969 195,752 1,772 178,172 571 65,217
November ................... 1,757 164,454 1,588 151,172 472 52,855
December ................... 1,719 155,056 1,543 140,835 424 44,096
2010
January .................... 1,707 168,044 1,529 154,187 471 53,817
February ................... 1,631 156,292 1,465 141,831 374 43,620
March ...................... 1,676 149,816 1,469 134,518 356 40,705
April ...................... 1,637 154,558 1,452 138,503 368 44,506
May ........................ 1,608 150,996 1,357 130,273 302 29,932
June ....................... 1,695 151,435 1,475 132,742 325 33,298
July ....................... 1,519 138,091 1,316 122,162 304 32,253
August ..................... 1,588 159,329 1,399 136,697 390 43,154
September .................. 1,510 133,576 1,295 115,349 328 34,333
October .................... 1,654 149,589 1,446 132,146 354 38,937
November ................... 1,592 161,145 1,410 145,494 360 39,977
December ................... 1,477 135,849 1,271 121,171 322 36,267
2011
January .................... 1,536 148,952 1,348 131,869 337 37,477
February ................... 1,434 131,569 1,242 116,745 297 26,696
March ...................... 1,275 115,391 1,118 102,722 251 28,988
April ...................... 1,548 145,836 1,383 131,317 341 37,053
May ........................ 1,600 144,412 1,404 127,793 374 39,180
June ....................... 1,513 143,384 1,334 128,410 344 36,265
July ....................... 1,562 145,078 1,348 125,285 346 36,312
August ..................... 1,551 164,275 1,347 149,874 382 49,194
September .................. 1,447 147,353 1,306 134,038 364 38,026
October .................... 1,335 118,924 1,205 107,330 341 33,926
November ................... 1,332 131,627 1,192 120,760 324 36,563
December ................... 1,384 145,648 1,238 130,583 351 39,081
2012
January .................... 1,434 129,920 1,298 119,102 341 33,597
February ................... 1,293 119,463 1,153 108,577 282 27,388
March ...................... 1,273 121,310 1,125 109,421 261 26,348
April ...................... 1,388 135,600 1,222 120,213 287 33,243
May ........................ 1,380 130,191 1,222 117,654 264 29,675
Table 2. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, June 2008 to
May 2012, not seasonally adjusted
Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing
Date
Initial Initial Initial
Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants
2008
June ....................... 1,622 166,742 1,315 140,916 309 42,097
July ....................... 1,891 200,382 1,687 186,018 760 108,733
August ..................... 1,427 139,999 1,343 133,146 414 51,912
September .................. 1,292 129,586 1,202 122,505 361 46,391
October .................... 2,125 221,784 1,917 205,553 689 100,457
November ................... 2,574 241,589 2,389 226,657 997 107,620
December ................... 3,377 351,305 3,232 340,220 1,378 172,529
2009
January .................... 3,806 388,813 3,633 375,293 1,461 172,757
February ................... 2,262 218,438 2,173 210,755 945 103,588
March ...................... 2,191 228,387 2,107 221,397 940 114,747
April ...................... 2,547 256,930 2,385 243,321 887 100,872
May ........................ 2,738 289,628 2,572 274,047 1,005 123,683
June ....................... 2,519 256,357 2,051 216,063 674 85,726
July ....................... 3,054 336,654 2,659 296,589 1,133 154,208
August ..................... 1,428 125,024 1,334 117,193 436 41,151
September .................. 1,371 123,177 1,258 115,141 448 51,126
October .................... 1,934 193,904 1,678 172,883 566 69,655
November ................... 1,870 164,496 1,679 150,751 517 55,053
December ................... 2,310 214,648 2,166 203,655 615 64,540
2010
January .................... 2,860 278,679 2,682 265,074 962 104,846
February ................... 1,183 102,818 1,091 96,022 282 30,728
March ...................... 1,197 111,727 1,111 105,514 273 29,745
April ...................... 1,840 199,690 1,697 184,654 424 55,178
May ........................ 1,354 123,333 1,170 109,203 216 19,334
June ....................... 1,861 171,190 1,355 125,872 212 21,083
July ....................... 2,124 206,254 1,732 172,248 532 64,200
August ..................... 976 92,435 897 83,021 230 23,088
September .................. 920 77,654 806 67,987 187 19,403
October .................... 1,642 148,638 1,373 127,865 351 40,861
November ................... 1,676 158,048 1,477 142,591 389 41,383
December ................... 1,931 184,130 1,763 172,881 465 52,816
2011
January .................... 2,558 246,463 2,372 229,765 693 75,006
February ................... 1,024 85,585 919 78,718 222 18,471
March ...................... 908 85,095 844 80,014 191 20,869
April ...................... 1,750 189,919 1,625 176,478 397 47,104
May ........................ 1,367 119,911 1,221 108,531 270 25,199
June ....................... 1,661 159,930 1,238 122,821 226 22,986
July ....................... 2,176 216,774 1,759 174,078 602 71,814
August ..................... 961 99,213 875 93,159 228 26,916
September .................. 1,189 117,232 1,095 107,300 296 32,058
October .................... 1,101 96,914 950 83,748 265 28,447
November ................... 1,393 127,750 1,245 117,474 349 37,799
December ................... 2,433 263,665 2,258 247,916 658 75,033
2012
January .................... 1,705 141,703 1,587 132,754 415 38,021
February ................... 895 73,974 820 69,076 196 16,555
March ...................... 1,125 117,817 1,040 110,954 242 24,241
April ...................... 1,421 146,358 1,293 132,697 256 32,518
May ........................ 1,201 109,259 1,081 100,434 186 18,800
Table 3. Industry distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, not seasonally adjusted
Industry Mass layoff totals Average weekly mass layoffs (1)
Events Initial claimants Events Initial claimants
May May May May May May May May
2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012
Total (2) .................................. 1,367 1,201 119,911 109,259 342 300 29,978 27,315
Total, private ................................... 1,243 1,099 109,881 101,354 311 275 27,470 25,339
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting ... 22 18 1,350 920 6 5 338 230
Total, private nonfarm ......................... 1,221 1,081 108,531 100,434 305 270 27,133 25,109
Mining ....................................... 5 5 308 262 1 1 77 66
Utilities .................................... (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
Construction ................................. 137 129 9,875 9,617 34 32 2,469 2,404
Construction of buildings ................ 26 26 1,932 2,250 7 7 483 563
Heavy and civil engineering construction . 45 40 3,536 3,198 11 10 884 800
Specialty trade contractors .............. 66 63 4,407 4,169 17 16 1,102 1,042
Manufacturing ................................ 270 186 25,199 18,800 68 47 6,300 4,700
Food ..................................... 64 48 6,036 4,487 16 12 1,509 1,122
Beverage and tobacco products ............ (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
Textile mills ............................ 12 7 1,045 685 3 2 261 171
Textile product mills .................... (3) 4 (3) 266 (3) 1 (3) 67
Apparel .................................. 10 10 1,174 711 3 3 294 178
Leather and allied products .............. (3) - (3) - (3) - (3) -
Wood products ............................ 10 4 755 262 3 1 189 66
Paper .................................... 9 6 934 628 2 2 234 157
Printing and related support activities .. 14 16 1,182 1,373 4 4 296 343
Petroleum and coal products .............. (3) - (3) - (3) - (3) -
Chemicals ................................ 8 5 503 546 2 1 126 137
Plastics and rubber products ............. 14 5 1,082 300 4 1 271 75
Nonmetallic mineral products ............. 6 5 635 488 2 1 159 122
Primary metals ........................... 11 9 1,053 641 3 2 263 160
Fabricated metal products ................ 11 6 848 384 3 2 212 96
Machinery ................................ 12 12 2,054 1,175 3 3 514 294
Computer and electronic products ......... 12 12 731 913 3 3 183 228
Electrical equipment and appliances ...... 7 4 1,049 723 2 1 262 181
Transportation equipment ................. 45 19 4,146 3,836 11 5 1,037 959
Furniture and related products ........... 12 9 888 1,049 3 2 222 262
Miscellaneous manufacturing .............. 5 (3) 456 (3) 1 (3) 114 (3)
Wholesale trade .............................. 21 16 1,777 976 5 4 444 244
Retail trade (4) ............................. 108 117 8,244 11,529 27 29 2,061 2,882
Building material and garden supply stores 7 8 516 767 2 2 129 192
Food and beverage stores ................. 18 18 1,391 1,302 5 5 348 326
Clothing and clothing accessories stores . 11 14 761 773 3 4 190 193
General merchandise stores ............... 34 49 3,079 6,414 9 12 770 1,604
Transportation and warehousing (4) ........... 38 38 3,371 4,628 10 10 843 1,157
Truck transportation ..................... 8 7 611 362 2 2 153 91
Transit and ground passenger
transportation ......................... 12 13 1,186 2,844 3 3 297 711
Support activities for transportation .... 4 3 191 161 1 1 48 40
Information .................................. 36 39 5,394 5,349 9 10 1,349 1,337
Finance and insurance ........................ 24 31 1,616 2,478 6 8 404 620
Real estate and rental and leasing ........... 7 4 457 428 2 1 114 107
Professional and technical services .......... 50 56 4,062 3,780 13 14 1,016 945
Management of companies and enterprises ...... (3) 4 (3) 516 (3) 1 (3) 129
Administrative and waste services ............ 203 169 15,938 12,483 51 42 3,985 3,121
Educational services ......................... 15 11 1,201 843 4 3 300 211
Health care and social assistance ............ 102 95 11,059 9,725 26 24 2,765 2,431
Arts, entertainment, and recreation .......... 24 26 1,835 1,920 6 7 459 480
Accommodation and food services .............. 148 120 15,483 14,142 37 30 3,871 3,536
Accommodation ............................ 33 13 2,660 970 8 3 665 243
Food services and drinking places ........ 115 107 12,823 13,172 29 27 3,206 3,293
Other services, except public administration . 28 29 2,361 2,595 7 7 590 649
Unclassified ................................. - (3) - (3) - (3) - (3)
Government ....................................... 124 102 10,030 7,905 31 26 2,508 1,976
Federal ...................................... 12 7 1,160 519 3 2 290 130
State ........................................ 32 24 2,136 1,856 8 6 534 464
State government education .............. 22 15 1,404 1,008 6 4 351 252
Local ........................................ 80 71 6,734 5,530 20 18 1,684 1,383
Local government education .............. 43 37 3,068 2,359 11 9 767 590
1 Average weekly analysis mitigates the effect of differing lengths of months. There were 4 weeks in May 2011 and 4 weeks in May 2012.
Average weekly events and initial claimants may not sum to subtotals and totals due to rounding.
2 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.
3 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
4 Includes other industries not shown.
NOTE: Dash represents zero.
Table 4. Region and state distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance,
not seasonally adjusted
Census region and state Mass layoff totals Average weekly mass layoffs (1)
Events Initial Claimants Events Initial Claimants
May May May May May May May May
2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012
Total (2) ............... 1,367 1,201 119,911 109,259 342 300 29,978 27,315
Northeast .................. 210 197 17,726 18,817 53 49 4,432 4,704
Connecticut ............ 11 11 769 864 3 3 192 216
Maine .................. 4 (3) 318 (3) 1 (3) 80 (3)
Massachusetts .......... 10 9 1,068 1,142 3 2 267 286
New Hampshire .......... (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
New Jersey ............. 34 22 2,937 1,967 9 6 734 492
New York ............... 56 65 4,743 6,199 14 16 1,186 1,550
Pennsylvania ........... 90 79 7,541 7,483 23 20 1,885 1,871
Rhode Island ........... (3) 4 (3) 439 (3) 1 (3) 110
Vermont ................ (3) 3 (3) 334 (3) 1 (3) 84
South ...................... 468 358 43,457 33,270 117 90 10,864 8,318
Alabama ................ 37 13 3,604 1,019 9 3 901 255
Arkansas ............... 15 9 1,647 1,031 4 2 412 258
Delaware ............... 5 (3) 334 (3) 1 (3) 84 (3)
District of Columbia ... 5 3 276 187 1 1 69 47
Florida ................ 102 75 6,363 4,621 26 19 1,591 1,155
Georgia ................ 40 28 4,038 2,906 10 7 1,010 727
Kentucky ............... 33 20 3,431 1,886 8 5 858 472
Louisiana .............. 29 21 2,531 1,884 7 5 633 471
Maryland ............... 5 9 462 706 1 2 116 177
Mississippi ............ 40 28 5,957 3,961 10 7 1,489 990
North Carolina ......... 40 46 3,928 4,247 10 12 982 1,062
Oklahoma ............... 9 5 902 361 2 1 226 90
South Carolina ......... 11 4 949 327 3 1 237 82
Tennessee .............. 21 20 1,838 1,762 5 5 460 441
Texas .................. 50 53 4,762 5,130 13 13 1,191 1,283
Virginia ............... 21 21 2,050 3,038 5 5 513 760
West Virginia .......... 5 (3) 385 (3) 1 (3) 96 (3)
Midwest .................... 288 249 26,017 26,349 72 62 6,504 6,587
Illinois ............... 47 64 4,749 7,361 12 16 1,187 1,840
Indiana ................ 28 23 2,189 2,078 7 6 547 520
Iowa ................... 6 12 1,069 1,208 2 3 267 302
Kansas ................. 12 11 1,365 1,092 3 3 341 273
Michigan ............... 38 22 3,368 1,922 10 6 842 481
Minnesota .............. 10 (3) 932 (3) 3 (3) 233 (3)
Missouri ............... 32 28 2,620 4,491 8 7 655 1,123
Nebraska ............... 8 9 860 924 2 2 215 231
North Dakota ........... (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
Ohio ................... 63 37 5,170 3,401 16 9 1,293 850
South Dakota ........... (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
Wisconsin .............. 41 35 3,472 3,298 10 9 868 825
West ....................... 401 397 32,711 30,823 100 99 8,178 7,706
Alaska ................. 6 7 489 619 2 2 122 155
Arizona ................ 15 14 1,394 1,245 4 4 349 311
California ............. 285 307 22,874 22,995 71 77 5,719 5,749
Colorado ............... 10 10 1,171 902 3 3 293 226
Hawaii ................. 5 (3) 351 (3) 1 (3) 88 (3)
Idaho .................. 6 3 370 201 2 1 93 50
Montana ................ (3) 3 (3) 223 (3) 1 (3) 56
Nevada ................. 13 11 1,133 859 3 3 283 215
New Mexico ............. 10 11 783 999 3 3 196 250
Oregon ................. 21 15 1,586 1,416 5 4 397 354
Utah ................... 8 5 554 366 2 1 139 92
Washington ............. 16 8 1,463 736 4 2 366 184
Wyoming ................ (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3)
Puerto Rico ............ 24 5 2,815 504 6 1 704 126
1 See footnote 1, table 3.
2 See footnote 2, table 3.
3 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure stnadards.
NOTE: Dash represents zero.
United States Department of Labor
