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Technical Note

   The  Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program is a federal-state program 
which identifies, describes, and tracks the effects of major job cutbacks,
using data from each state's unemployment insurance database.  Employers
which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a con-
secutive 5-week period are contacted by the state agency to determine
whether these separations are of at least 31 days duration, and, if so,
information is obtained on the total number of persons separated and the
reasons for these separations.  Employers are identified according to in-
dustry classification and location, and unemployment insurance claimants
are identified by such demographic factors as age, race, gender, ethnic
group, and place of residence.  The program yields information on an
individual's entire spell of unemployment, to the point when regular
unemployment insurance benefits are exhausted.

Definitions

   Employer.  Employers in the MLS program include those covered by state
unemployment insurance laws.  Information on employers is obtained from the
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, which is admin-
istered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

   Extended layoff event.  Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment
insurance benefits from an employer during a 5-week period, with at least
50 workers separated for more than 30 days.

   Initial claimant.  A person who files any notice of unemployment to
initiate a request either for a determination of entitlement to and eligi-
bility for compensation, or for a subsequent period of unemployment within
a benefit year or period of eligibility.

   Layoff.  The separation of persons from an employer as part of a mass
layoff event.  (See below.)  Such layoffs involve both persons subject to
recall and those who are terminated by the establishment.

   Mass layoff.  Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance
benefits from an employer beginning in a given month, regardless of dura-
tion.

   Worksite closure.  The complete closure of either multi-unit or single-
unit employers or the partial closure of a multi-unit employer where entire
worksites affected by layoffs are closed or planned to be closed.



                                  - 10 -



Revisions to preliminary data

The latest quarterly data in this news release are considered preliminary.
After the initial publication of quarterly information, more data are col-
lected as remaining employer interviews for the quarter are completed and
additional initial claimant information associated with extended layoff
events is received.

Movement of work concepts and questions

   Because of the employer interview component, the BLS decided to use
the MLS program as a vehicle for collecting additional information on
offshoring and outsourcing associated with job loss, by adding questions
that address movement of work.  The term "moving work" means that the
company experiencing the layoff has reassigned work activities that were
performed at a worksite by the company's employees (1) to another work-
site within the company; (2) to another company under formal arrangements 
at the same worksite; or (3) to another company under formal arrangements 
at another worksite.  The type of work activities subject to movement can
include accounting, customer service, cleaning, warehousing, etc.

   "Overseas relocation" is the movement of work from within the U.S. to
locations outside of the U.S. "Overseas relocation" can occur within the
same company and involve movement of work to a different location of that
company outside of the U.S., or to a different company altogether.

   "Domestic relocation" is the movement of work to other locations inside
the U.S., either within the same company or to a different company.

   "Overseas relocation" and "domestic relocation" are no longer used in the
same way as they were in earlier extended mass layoff news releases.  There-
fore, the data presented in this news release are not comparable to those
that were presented in earlier news releases.

   Questions on movement of work and location are asked for all identified
layoff events when the reason for separation is other than "seasonal work"
or "vacation period."  Seasonal and vacation layoff events were excluded
because movement of work appears unlikely.

   Questions on movement of work are asked after the analyst verifies that 
a layoff in fact occurred and lasted more than 30 days, and obtained the
total number of workers separated from jobs, the date the layoff began, and
the economic reason for the layoff.  If the reason for layoff is other than
seasonal or vacation, the employer was asked the following:

   (1) "Did this layoff include your company moving work from this loca-
tion(s) to a different geographic location(s) within your company?"

   (2) "Did this layoff include your company moving work that was performed
in-house by your employees to a different company, through contractual ar-
rangements?"

   A "yes" response to either question is followed by:

   "Is the location inside or outside of the U.S.?" and "How many of the
layoffs were a result of this relocation?"

   Layoff actions are classified as "overseas relocation" if the employer
responds "yes" to questions 1 and/or 2, and indicates that the location(s)
was outside of the U.S.  Domestic relocation is determined if the employer
responds "yes" to questions 1 and/or 2 and indicates that the location(s)
was within the U.S.

   After asking the movement of work questions, the employer interview
continues and responses are obtained for questions on recall expectations
and open/closed status of the worksite.



                                  - 11 - 



Reliability of the data

   The identification of employers and layoff events in the MLS program
and associated characteristics of claimants is based on administrative
data on covered establishments and unemployment insurance claims, and,
therefore, is not subject to issues associated with sampling error.
Nonsampling errors such as typographical errors may occur but are not
likely to be significant.  While the MLS employers and layoff events
are not subject to sampling error, and all such employers are asked the
interview questions, the employer responses are subject to nonsampling 
error.  Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the in-
ability to obtain information for all respondents, inability or unwill-
ingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made 
in the collection or processing of the data.  For the second quarter of
2008, outright refusal to participate in the employer interview accounted
for 2.6 percent of all private nonfarm events.  Although included in the
total number of instances involving the movement of work, for the second
quarter, employers in 22 relocations were unable to provide the number of
separations specifically associated with the movement of work, 4 of which
involved out-of-country moves.

Other information

   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request.  Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral
phone: 1-800-877-8339.