August 18, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Displaced workers, 2003-05: reason for job loss

During the January 2003 through December 2005 period, 3.8 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years.

[Chart data—TXT]

Of those long-tenured workers displaced during the January 2003 through December 2005 period, 49 percent lost or left their jobs due to plant or company closings or moves, 29 percent reported that their position or shift was abolished, and 22 percent cited insufficient work as the reason for being displaced. 

The proportion of displaced workers reporting plant closings or moves was up slightly from the prior survey, and the share citing insufficient work was down.

More than 4 in 10 long-tenured displaced workers received written advance notice that their jobs would be terminated, similar to the proportion in prior surveys. About half of the workers who lost jobs due to plant or company closings or moves and shift abolishment received written advance notice of their impending job loss. In comparison, only a quarter of those who lost jobs due to insufficient work were notified in advance.

These data come from the Current Population Survey (CPS). You can learn more about displaced workers in "Worker Displacement, 2003-05," (PDF) (TXT) USDL 06-1454. Workers who worked for their employer for 3 or more years at the time of displacement are referred to as long-tenured.  Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has sponsored surveys of worker displacement. These surveys have been conducted every two years as supplements to the CPS.