Why Should I Participate in this Interview?

Why Should I Participate in this Interview?

Your participation is critical to our success in meeting the goals of timely, accurate, and relevant information on the economy—specifically information on establishments having mass layoffs—at the national and State levels. Your confidentiality is assured. Information provided by you about your layoff that can be used to identify your establishment or firm will never be released. The MLS statement of confidentiality provides the authorized uses of data from the program.

The information we request includes:

• Whether the layoff lasted more than 30 days and when it occurred.
• The number of workers laid-off.
• Economic reasons for the layoff and recall expectations.
• Movement of work related to layoffs (offshoring and outsourcing).
• Business functions/processes targeted in layoffs.

Who Uses these data?

MLS data are used for the following purposes:

• Sub-state allocations of Federal funds for dislocated workers through the Economic Development and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act.
• Analysis of ailing industries or geographic areas.
• Identifying the causes and scope of worker dislocation, especially in terms of the human and economic costs, and the characteristics of dislocated workers.
• Development of approaches for work force planners and labor market analysts in assisting employers and/or workers at the local level.
• Analysis of potentially available labor market supply.

How Can I Use These Data?

MLS data are available to all users both in print and on the BLS web site at www.bls.gov/mls/. Information is obtained on the total number of persons separated; the reasons for separation; worksite closures; recall expectations; and socioeconomic characteristics of UI claimants such as gender, age, race, and residency. These characteristics are collected at two points in time—when an initial claim is filed and when the claimant exhausts regular UI benefits. Between these two data collection points, the unemployment status of claimants is tracked through the monitoring of certifications for unemployment (continued claims) filed under the regular State UI program. Data are available for 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as by industry. You can access these data tables at MLS Databases.