March 25, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Layoffs fall in February 2005

In February 2005, employers took 1,128 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 117,684, seasonally adjusted.

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

The number of layoff events fell by 329 from January 2005 and was the lowest for any month since October 2000.

The number of initial claims due to mass layoff actions declined by 33,306 over the month and was the lowest for any month since May 2004.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for January and February 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in February 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-486.