July 27, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Mass layoffs and geography, June 2005

In June 2005, among the four broad regions, the highest number of initial claims for unemployment insurance due to mass layoffs was in the Midwest (38,985).

[Chart data—TXT]

The West had the next largest number of claims (33,078), followed by the South (25,679) and the Northeast (22,721).

The number of initial claimants from mass layoffs decreased over the year in three of the four regions: the West, the South, and the Northeast. The Midwest had the only over-the-year increase.

The four regions are composed of nine geographic divisions. Seven of the nine divisions had over-the-year decreases in the number of initial claims associated with mass layoffs, with the largest in the Pacific division. Over-the-year increases occurred in the East North Central and Mountain divisions.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. See Mass Layoffs in June 2005 (PDF) (TXT), USDL 05-1432, to learn more. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and are preliminary and subject to revision.