January 25, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Layoffs in December 2006

In December 2006, employers took 1,201 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month.

Mass layoff events, seasonally adjusted, December 2005-December 2006
[Chart data—TXT]

Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 133,818. The number of mass layoff events decreased by 19 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims decreased by 2,522.

Seasonally adjusted mass layoff data have been revised using updated seasonal adjustment factors that incorporate 2006 data. Seasonally adjusted estimates back to January 2002 were subject to revision. The totals for each of the six seasonally adjusted series for January 2002-December 2006 (as originally published and as revised) are available at http://www.bls.gov/mls/mlssarevision.htm, along with additional information about the revisions.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in December 2006 and Annual Totals for 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0112.

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