March 23, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Mass layoffs up in February

In February 2007, employers took 1,280 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month. The number of mass layoff events increased by 43 from January.

[Chart data—TXT]

Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment; the number of workers involved totaled 143,977, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of associated initial claims rose by 17,609 from January.

During February, 419 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 64,072 initial claims. Compared with the prior month, mass layoff activity in manufacturing increased by 30 events and by 12,931 initial claims.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in February 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0421.