July 25, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Mass layoffs in June

Employers initiated 1,557 mass layoff actions in June 2002, 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 159,352.

[Chart data—TXT]

A year earlier, in June 2001, there were 2,107 mass layoff events involving 253,826 workers. (June 2002 contained 4 weeks for possible mass layoffs, compared with 5 weeks in each June of the prior 2 years.) 

From January through June 2002, the total number of initial claims, at 1,069,361, was lower than January-June 2001, while the number of events, at 9,779, was somewhat higher.

These data are products of the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for May and June 2002 are preliminary and subject to revision. Note that the June 2002 data do not include Arizona. For more information, see news release USDL 02-402, Mass Layoffs in June 2002 (PDF) (TXT).