Technical information: (202) 691-6392 USDL 08-1146
http://www.bls.gov/mls/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, August 15, 2008
EXTENDED MASS LAYOFFS IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2008
In the second quarter of 2008, employers initiated 1,534 mass
layoff events that resulted in the separation of 299,886 workers from
their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures
released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Both layoff events and separations reached their highest levels for
the second quarter since 2003. The total number of layoff events was
113 higher in the second quarter of 2008 than the same period a year
earlier, and the number of associated separations increased by 21,167.
(See table A.) Second quarter 2008 layoff data are preliminary and
are subject to revision. (See the Technical Note.)
Mass layoff activity in professional and technical services and in
finance and insurance reached second quarter program highs in 2008.
Layoffs in professional and technical services were due largely to
seasonal job cuts in tax preparation services. Finance and insurance
layoffs continued to be concentrated in credit intermediation and
related activities, largely in the real estate credit industry.
Among the 7 categories of economic reasons for layoff, seasonal
reasons accounted for the highest share of events (38 percent) and
number of separations (141,562) in April-June 2008. (See table B.)
These seasonal layoffs were due, in part, to the end of the school
year. The largest over-the-year increases in the number of separations
occurred in layoff events attributed to business demand factors (+18,868)
and organizational changes (+18,356). Within these 2 categories, layoffs
because of slack work more than doubled over the year to 40,300 separa-
tions, and changes in business ownership more than quadrupled to 16,852.
Permanent closure of worksites occurred in 10 percent of all
extended mass layoff events and affected 33,695 workers during the
second quarter of 2008. Fifty-three percent of employers reporting a
layoff indicated they anticipate some type of recall, down from 57
percent a year earlier and the lowest second quarter proportion since
2003.
The national unemployment rate averaged 5.2 percent, not seasonally
adjusted, in the second quarter of 2008, up from 4.4 percent a year
earlier. Private nonfarm payroll employment, not seasonally adjusted,
decreased by 0.1 percent (-124,000) over the year.
- 2 -
Table A. Selected measures of extended mass layoff activity
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Period | Layoff events | Separations | Initial claimants
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
2004 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,339 | 276,503 | 238,392
April-June ...........| 1,358 | 278,831 | 254,063
July-September .......| 886 | 164,608 | 148,575
October-December .....| 1,427 | 273,967 | 262,049
| | |
2005 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,142 | 186,506 | 185,486
April-June ...........| 1,203 | 246,099 | 212,673
July-September........| 1,136 | 201,878 | 190,186
October-December .....| 1,400 | 250,178 | 246,188
| | |
2006 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 963 | 183,089 | 193,510
April-June ... .......| 1,353 | 295,964 | 264,927
July-September .......| 929 | 160,254 | 161,764
October-December (r)..| 1,640 | 296,662 | 330,954
| | |
2007 | | |
| | |
January-March ........| 1,110 | 225,600 | 199,250
April-June (r) .......| 1,421 | 278,719 | 259,234
July-September (r)....| 1,018 | 160,024 | 173,077
October-December (r) .| 1,814 | 301,592 | 347,146
| | |
2008 | | |
| | |
January-March (r) ....| 1,340 | 229,870 | 256,697
April-June (p) .......| 1,534 | 299,886 | 215,808
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
Industry Distribution of Extended Layoffs
Manufacturing industries accounted for 22 percent of private
nonfarm extended layoff events and 19 percent of related separations
in the second quarter of 2008; a year earlier, manufacturing made up
20 percent of events and 17 percent of separations. (See table 1.)
Manufacturing had 334 extended layoff events in the second quarter
of 2008, the highest second quarter total since 2003, and 56,212
separations. The largest numbers of separations were in transporta-
tion equipment manufacturing (16,073, mostly associated with heavy
duty truck manufacturing) and food manufacturing (10,569).
Professional and technical services accounted for 5 percent of
events and 12 percent of separations in the second quarter of 2008,
the highest proportion of separations recorded in the program. These
job cuts were due largely to seasonal layoffs in the tax preparation
industry. Layoffs in transportation and warehousing accounted for 10
percent of all events and 12 percent of separations and were concen-
trated in school and employee bus transportation.
- 3 -
Table B. Distribution of extended layoff events and separations
by economic reason categories, April-June 2008p
----------------------------------------------------------------
| Layoff events | Separations
Category |---------------------------------------
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent
------------------------|---------------------------------------
| | | |
Total ................| 1,534 | 100.0 | 299,886 | 100.0
| | | |
Business demand.........| 528 | 34.4 | 70,967 | 23.7
Organizational changes .| 107 | 7.0 | 33,828 | 11.3
Financial issues .......| 104 | 6.8 | 24,853 | 8.3
Production specific ....| (1) | (1) | (1) | (1)
Disaster/safety ........| (1) | (1) | (1) | (1)
Seasonal ...............| 582 | 37.9 | 141,562 | 47.2
Other/miscellaneous ....| 195 | 12.7 | 26,211 | 8.7
| | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------
1 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
p = preliminary.
Reasons for Extended Layoffs
Among the seven categories of economic reasons for extended mass
layoffs, events related to seasonal factors (seasonal and vacation
period) accounted for 38 percent of the extended layoffs and 47 per-
cent of separations during the second quarter of 2008. (See table 2.)
The numbers of workers terminated because of seasonal reasons were
highest in tax preparation, school and employee bus transportation,
skiing facilities, food service contractors, and child daycare serv-
ices.
Job losses related to business demand (contract cancellation,
contract completion, domestic competition, excess inventory, import
competition, and slack work) accounted for 34 percent of the extended
layoff events and resulted in 70,967 separations. Separations asso-
ciated with business demand reasons registered the largest over-
the-year increase (+18,868), as those related to slack work/insuffi-
cient demand/nonseasonal business slowdown more than doubled.
Organizational changes (business-ownership change and reorganiza-
tion or restructuring of company) accounted for 7 percent of events
and resulted in 33,828 separations during the second quarter of 2008,
more than double the number of separations due to organizational change
for the second quarter of 2007. This increase was due largely to busi-
ness-ownership changes in the real estate credit industry.
- 4 -
Table C. Extended mass layoff events and separations, selected
measures, second quarter 2008p
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Action | Layoff events | Separations
| |
-----------------------------------|-----------------|-----------------
| |
Total, private nonfarm ............| 1,534 | 299,886
| |
Total, excluding seasonal | |
and vacation events (1) ......| 952 | 158,324
| |
Total events with movement | |
of work (2) ................| 60 | 10,957
| |
Movement of work actions ...| 84 | (3)
With separations reported.| 62 | 6,516
With separations unknown .| 22 | (3)
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 The questions on movement of work were not asked of employers when
the reason for layoff was either seasonal work or vacation period.
2 A layoff event can involve more than one movement of work action.
3 Data are not available.
p = preliminary.
Movement of Work
In the second quarter of 2008, 60 extended mass layoffs involved
the movement of work and were associated with 10,957 separated work-
ers. (See table C.) These movements of work were to other domestic
locations or to locations outside of the U.S., and they occurred
either within the same company or to other companies. Movement of
work layoffs accounted for 6 percent of nonseasonal layoff events in
the second quarter of 2008. A year earlier, there were 65 layoff
events and 11,352 separations associated with the movement of work.
(See table 10.)
Among the 60 extended mass layoff events with reported relocation
of work in the second quarter of 2008, 63 percent were permanent
closures of worksites, which affected 6,864 workers. In comparison,
10 percent of the total extended mass layoff events reported for the
quarter involved the permanent closure of worksites affecting 33,695
workers.
Of the layoffs involving the movement of work, 67 percent of the
events and 60 percent of the laid-off workers were from manufacturing
industries during the second quarter. (See table 7.) Among all pri-
vate nonfarm extended layoffs, manufacturing accounted for 22 percent
of the events and 19 percent of separations.
While only 7 percent of the extended mass layoff events in the
total private nonfarm economy were because of organizational change,
such reasons accounted for 53 percent of layoff events associated with
work relocation and resulted in 4,798 separations during the second
quarter. (See table 8.)
- 5 -
Table D. Movement of work actions by type of separation where the
number of separations is known by employers, second quarter 2008p
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Activities | Actions (1) | Separations
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
With separations reported ......| 62 | 6,516
| |
By location | |
| |
Out-of-country relocations ..| 19 | 2,761
Within company ............| 17 | 2,537
Different company .........| 2 | 224
| |
Domestic relocations ........| 42 | 3,480
Within company ............| 40 | 3,338
Different company .........| 2 | 142
| |
Unable to assign place of | |
relocation ................ | 1 | 275
| |
By company | |
| |
Within company ..............| 57 | 5,875
Domestic ..................| 40 | 3,338
Out of country ............| 17 | 2,537
| |
Different company ...........| 5 | 641
Domestic ..................| 2 | 142
Out of country ............| 2 | 224
Unable to assign ..........| 1 | 275
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Only actions for which separations associated with the movement
of work were reported are shown.
p = preliminary.
Among the regions, the South (30 percent) and the West (29 percent)
accounted for the largest proportions of workers affected by extended
mass layoffs associated with the movement of work, followed by the
Midwest (26 percent) and the Northeast (14 percent). (See table 9.)
Some extended mass layoff events involve more than one relocation
of work action. For example, an extended mass layoff event at an
employer may involve job loss due to movement of work to both another
domestic location of the company and a location out of the country.
This would be counted as two movement of work actions. The 60 ex-
tended layoff events with movement of work for the second quarter of
2008 involved 84 identifiable relocations of work. (See table C.)
An identifiable relocation of work occurs when the employer provides
sufficient information on the new location of work and/or the number
of workers affected by the movement. Of the 84 relocations, employers
were able to provide information on the specific number of separations
associated with the movement of work component of the layoff in 62
actions involving 6,516 workers. (See table 10.)
- 6 -
Table E. Summary of employer expectations of a recall from extended
layoff, second quarter 2007-second quarter 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Percentage of events
Nature of the recall |_________________________________________
| | | | |
| II | III | IV | I | II
| 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2008(r)| 2008(p)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
Anticipate a recall .......| 57.1 | 37.9 | 55.8 | 40.1 | 52.6
| | | | |
Timeframe | | | | |
| | | | |
Within 6 months ...........| 87.5 | 83.9 | 87.9 | 69.8 | 83.6
Within 3 months .........| 59.7 | 62.7 | 34.2 | 45.4 | 56.9
| | | | |
Size | | | | |
| | | | |
At least half .............| 93.3 | 86.0 | 90.5 | 73.2 | 87.7
All workers .............| 57.2 | 45.6 | 50.5 | 28.5 | 50.8
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
In the 62 actions where employers were able to provide more com-
plete separations information, 92 percent of relocations (57 out of
62) occurred within the same company. (See table D.) Sixty-eight
percent of relocations (42 out of 62) were identified as domestic
reassignments, while 31 percent (19 out of 62) involved out-of-country
moves. Domestic relocation of work--both within the company and to
other companies--affected 3,480 workers. Out-of-country relocations
were associated with the separation of 2,761 workers, 2 percent of all
nonseasonal and nonvacation extended mass layoff separations. (See
table 11.)
Recall Expectations
Fifty-three percent of employers reporting an extended layoff in
the second quarter of 2008 indicated they anticipated some type of
recall, down from 57 percent a year earlier and the lowest second
quarter proportion since 2003. (See table E.) Of those employers
expecting to recall workers, 51 percent indicated that the offer
would be extended to all displaced employees, the lowest second
quarter proportion since 2003, and 88 percent of employers antici-
pated extending the offer to at least half of the workers. Eighty-
four percent of employers expecting to recall laid-off employees
intend to do so within 6 months.
- 7 -
Table F. Distribution of extended layoff events by size of layoff,
second quarter 2008p
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Layoff events | Separations
Size |---------------------------------------
| | | |
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Total ..................| 1,534 | 100.0 | 299,886 | 100.0
| | | |
50-99 .....................| 716 | 46.7 | 49,735 | 16.6
100-149 ...................| 319 | 20.8 | 37,286 | 12.4
150-199 ...................| 150 | 9.8 | 25,197 | 8.4
200-299 ...................| 163 | 10.6 | 37,946 | 12.7
300-499 ...................| 94 | 6.1 | 34,664 | 11.6
500-999 ...................| 64 | 4.2 | 43,413 | 14.5
1,000 or more .............| 28 | 1.8 | 71,645 | 23.9
-------------------------------------------------------------------
p = preliminary.
Excluding layoff events due to seasonal work and vacation period
(in which 97 percent of the employers expected a recall), employers
anticipated recalling laid-off workers in 25 percent of the events,
about the same as a year earlier (24 percent).
Size of Extended Layoffs
The average size of a layoff (as measured by separations per lay-
off event) in the second quarter of 2008 was 195, compared to 196 per
layoff in second quarter 2007. Layoff events continued to be concen-
trated at the lower end of the extended layoff-size spectrum, with 47
percent of events involving between 50 and 99 workers and 67 percent
of events with less than 150 workers.
Layoffs involving less than 150 workers accounted for 29 percent of
all separations during the period, the same percentage recorded a year
earlier. Separations involving 500 or more workers, while comprising
only 6 percent of the events, accounted for 38 percent of all separa-
tions in the second quarter of 2008, up from 36 percent a year earlier.
(See table F.)
Initial Claimant Characteristics
A total of 215,808 initial claimants for unemployment insurance
were associated with extended mass layoffs in the second quarter of
2008. Of these claimants, 16 percent were black, 17 percent were
Hispanic, 52 percent were women, 33 percent were 30 to 44 years of
age, and 23 percent were 55 years of age or older. (See table 3.)
Among persons in the civilian labor force for the same period, 12
percent were black, 14 percent were Hispanic, 46 percent were women,
33 percent were 30 to 44 years of age, and 18 percent were 55 years
of age or older.
- 8 -
Table G. Mass layoff events and separations, selected metropolitan areas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Events | Separations
Metropolitan area |-----------------|-----------------
| | | |
| II | II | II | II
| 2007(r)| 2008(p)| 2007(r)| 2008(p)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Total, nonmetropolitan areas ...............| 195 | 179 | 32,057 | 29,857
| | | |
Total, 369 metropolitan areas ..............| 718 | 715 |107,310 |109,698
| | | |
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. .| 31 | 41 | 6,199 | 8,603
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. ..| 91 | 75 | 13,719 | 8,027
Detriot-Warren-Livonia, Mich. .............| 17 | 35 | 3,458 | 6,459
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long | | | |
Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. ....................| 45 | 20 | 6,394 | 4,139
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. .....| 19 | 28 | 1,518 | 3,678
Salt Lake City, Utah ......................| 4 | 6 | 541 | 3,245
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. ..| 20 | 25 | 2,922 | 3,065
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.- | | | |
Del.-Md. .................................| 22 | 18 | 2,587 | 3,030
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. .| 12 | 22 | 2,378 | 3,022
Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. ......| 3 | 7 | 1,000 | 2,509
| | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
r = revised.
p = preliminary.
NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown in
this table are defined in Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 08-01,
November 20, 2007.
Geographic Distribution
Among the 4 census regions, the West recorded the highest number of
separations (119,388) due to extended mass layoff events in the second
quarter of 2008, followed by the Midwest (86,410). (See table 4.)
Separations in the West, which reached a program high this quarter,
occurred largely in amusements, gambling, and recreation and in credit
intermediation and related activities. The West accounted for 40 per-
cent of all separations, up from 34 percent in the same period last
year.
Among the 9 census divisions, the highest number of separations
during the second quarter of 2008 was in the Pacific (92,614). The
East North Central division had the next-highest level of separations
(72,140). (See table 4.)
California recorded the largest number of worker separations
(77,751), followed by Illinois (26,475), Ohio (19,683), and Florida
(17,216). (See table 5.) After excluding the substantial impact of
seasonal reasons, California still reported the highest number of job
cuts (59,685), the highest second quarter level since 2003.
California accounted for 26 percent of all separations in the
second quarter of 2008, up from 21 percent in 2007. Illinois ac-
counted for 9 percent of the separations in the second quarter of
2008, about the same as last year (8 percent).
Forty-seven percent of events and 37 percent of separations
(109,698) occurred in metropolitan areas in the second quarter of
2008, compared with 51 percent of events and 39 percent of separa-
tions (107,310) during the second quarter of 2007. Among the 369
metropolitan areas, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.,
reported the highest number of separations (8,603) in the second
quarter of 2008. Next were Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.,
with 8,027 separations and Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., with 6,459
separations. (See table G.) Employers located in nonmetropolitan
areas separated 29,857 workers in extended mass layoffs.
Note
The quarterly series on extended mass layoffs cover layoffs of
at least 31-days duration that involve 50 or more individuals from
a single employer filing initial claims for unemployment insurance
during a consecutive 5-week period. Approximately 30 days after a
mass layoff is triggered, the employer is contacted for additional
information. Data for the second quarter are preliminary and sub-
ject to revision. This release also includes revised data for pre-
vious quarters. Data are not seasonally adjusted, but survey data
suggest that there is a seasonal pattern to layoffs. Thus, compari-
sons between consecutive quarters should not be used as an indicator
of trend.
For additional information about the program, see the Technical
Note.
______________________________
The report on Mass Layoffs in July 2008 is scheduled to be released
on Friday, August 22.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
