September 24, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Mass layoff events in August 2008

In August, employers took 1,772 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 employer; the number of workers involved totaled 173,955.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of mass layoff events this August increased by 260 from the prior month, while the number of associated initial claims rose by 22,784.

From January through August 2008, the total number of mass layoff events, at 12,542, and initial claims, at 1,274,765, were the highest for the January-August period since 2003.

In August, 599 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, resulting in 72,244 initial claims. Over the month, mass layoff events in manufacturing increased by 156, and initial claims increased by 14,774.

These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in August 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1342.