December 26, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Mass layoffs down in November from a year ago

Employers initiated 2,150 mass layoff actions in November 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 240,028.

[Chart data—TXT]

In November 2001, there were 2,721 mass layoff events involving 295,956 workers. In January through November 2002, both the total number of events, 17,799, and initial claims, 1,980,856, were lower than in January-November 2001 (19,027 and 2,245,969, respectively).

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. For more information, see news release USDL 02-697, "Mass Layoffs in November 2002" (PDF) (TXT).