October 24, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Layoffs by region in September 2007

Among the four census regions, the highest number of initial claims in September for unemployment insurance benefits due to mass layoffs was in the West with 25,539.

[Chart data—TXT]

Motion picture and sound recording industries, administrative and support services, and specialty trade contractors together accounted for 37 percent of all mass layoff initial claims in the West during the month.

The Midwest had the second largest number of initial claims among the regions with 17,273, followed by the South with 15,913, and the Northeast with 8,660.

The number of initial claimants in mass layoffs decreased over the year in all four regions—the South (-8,077), the Midwest (-8,075), the Northeast (-3,791), and the West (-371).

These data are from the BLS Mass Layoff Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. Learn more about mass layoff actions and workers filing for unemployment insurance benefits in "Mass Layoffs in September 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-1642. Initial claimants are persons who file any notice of unemployment to initiate a request for compensation. Mass layoff events involve at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed against a single establishment.