February 02, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fewer layoffs in 2003

During 2003, there were 18,963 mass layoff events, resulting in 1,888,926 initial claims for unemployment insurance. In 2002, there were 20,277 events and 2,245,051 claims.

[Chart data—TXT]

For the second consecutive year, over-the-year decreases in mass-layoff initial claims occurred in each of the four broad regions. The largest decreases in initial claims were in the West (-151,121) and South (-110,520).

California reported the largest over-the-year decrease in initial claims (-108,537), followed by Texas (-36,208), and South Carolina (-30,005). The largest over-the-year increases occurred in New York (+8,005) and Georgia (+7,121).

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for 2003 are preliminary and subject to revision. See the full release, "Mass Layoffs in December 2003 and Annual Averages for 2003" (PDF) (TXT) (USDL 04-70), for more information.