August 22, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Increase in displaced workers 

During the January 1999 through December 2001 period, 4.0 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of displaced workers increased from 3.3 million in January 1997 through December 1999. The more recent period includes the recession that began in March 2001 and the resulting slowdown in the labor market. In contrast, the prior survey covered a period of strong employment growth and declining unemployment.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished. Read more about displaced workers in "Worker Displacement, 1999-2001", news release USDL 02-483.