In December 2004, employers took 1,614 mass layoff actions, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 161,271. The number of events was the lowest for any December since 1999, and the number of initial claims was the lowest for any December since 1995 when data became available.
The layoff events in December bring the total for all of 2004 to 15,980 and the total number of initial claimants from such events to 1,607,158. The annual totals were lower than in 2003 (18,963 events and 1,888,926 initial claims) and were the lowest annual totals for events since 2000 and for initial claims since 1999. Additional information on the annual data is provided starting on page 3 of this release.
Industry Distribution
The 10 industries reporting the highest number of mass-layoff initial claims accounted for 57,388 initial claims in December, 36 percent of the total. Highway, street, and bridge construction, with 14,348 initial claims, accounted for 9 percent of all initial claims in December. None of these industries reached December peaks in 2004.The manufacturing sector accounted for 27 percent of all mass layoff events and 31 percent of all initial claims filed in December. These were the smallest shares for manufacturing in any December since the monthly series began in 1995. A year ago, in December 2003, manufacturing comprised 34 percent of events and 40 percent of initial claims. Within manufacturing, the number of claimants was highest in transportation equipment (12,547, mostly in travel trailer and camper manufacturing), followed by food processing (6,309) and electrical equipment and appliance manufacturing (3,741).
Construction accounted for 21 percent of events and 17 percent of initial claims filed in December, with layoffs mainly in highway, street, and bridge construction. Nine percent of all layoff events and initial claims filed during the month were from accommodation and food services, mostly among food service contractors. Administrative and waste services accounted for 10 percent of events and 8 percent of initial claims, largely in temporary help services. An additional 6 percent of events and 7 percent of initial claims were from transportation and warehousing, mostly from school and employee bus transportation.
Government establishments accounted for 5 percent of events and 4 percent of initial claims filed in December, mostly in educational services.
Compared with December 2003, the largest decreases in initial claims were reported in transportation equipment manufacturing (-8,514), administrative and support services (-4,204), transit and ground passenger transportation (-3,388), and textile mills (-3,050). The largest over-the-year increases in initial claims were reported in motion picture and sound recording industries (+4,329).
