February 28, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

New seasonally adjusted mass layoffs statistics

Beginning with the release underlying this article, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is now publishing seasonally adjusted mass layoff data. In January 2005, employers took 1,457 mass layoff actions as measured, after seasonal adjustment, by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month.

Mass layoff events, seasonally adjusted, January 2004-January 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 150,990, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The number of layoff events rose by 246 from December and was the highest for any month since January 2004. The number of initial claims due to mass layoff actions grew by 31,341 over the month and was the highest for any month since October 2003.

Seasonal adjustment accounts for the effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year, making it easier to observe the cyclical and other nonseasonal movements in a time series. Six mass layoff series are being seasonally adjusted—the number of layoff events and the number of associated initial claims for unemployment insurance for the total, the private nonfarm sector, and the manufacturing sector.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for December 2004 and January 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in January 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-307.