August 24, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Layoffs in July 2005

In July 2005, employers took 1,249 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 131,326, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of layoff events in July rose by 74, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 3,439 from June. 

In the manufacturing sector, 360 mass layoff events were reported during July 2005 resulting in 48,967 claims. The number of mass layoff events in manufacturing was somewhat higher than a month earlier, while the number of initial claims was lower.

From January through July 2005, the total numbers of events, at 8,673, and initial claims, at 924,343, were lower than in January-July 2004, when events and claims totaled 9,381 and 959,018, respectively.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for June and July 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in July 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1597.