In January 2005, employers took 1,457 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. 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. There were 379 mass layoff events in the manufacturing sector during January 2005, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 58,908 initial claims, both higher than a month earlier.
The number of mass layoff events and initial claims reached their respective highs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, of 2,409 and 277,214 in September 2001. The numbers of seasonally adjusted events and initial claims were also highest for the private nonfarm sector in September 2001 (2,235 and 263,192). The seasonally adjusted number of manufacturing events reached its peak (944) in November 2001, while the seasonally adjusted number of initial claims for manufacturing reached its high point in June 1998, at 190,810.
Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The 10 industries reporting the highest number of mass-layoff initial claims, not seasonally adjusted, accounted for 72,625 initial claims in January, 28 percent of the total. Temporary help services, with 17,160 initial claims, and school and employee bus transportation, with 14,526, together accounted for 12 percent of all initial claims in January. Five of these industries reached a series peak for January, on a not seasonally adjusted basis, in 2005.The manufacturing sector accounted for 32 percent of all mass layoff events and 41 percent of all initial claims filed in January. A year earlier, in January 2004, manufacturing comprised 35 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. Within manufacturing, almost one-third of the claimants were in transportation equipment (35,324), mostly automotive-related. The next largest numbers of claimants in this sector were in food processing (8,703) and wood product manufacturing (8,243).
Construction accounted for 18 percent of events and 13 percent of initial claims filed in January 2005, with layoffs mainly in highway, street, and bridge construction. Twelve percent of all layoff events and 11 percent of initial claims filed during the month were from administrative and waste services, largely in temporary help services. Transportation and warehousing accounted for 8 percent each of events and initial claims in January, mostly from school and employee bus transportation. Retail trade accounted for 8 percent of events and 7 percent of initial claims, primarily in discount department stores. An additional 5 percent of events and 4 percent of initial claims were from accommodation and food services, mostly among food service contractors.
Government establishments accounted for 3 percent of events and 2 percent of initial claims filed in January, mostly in executive, legislative, and general government agencies.
Compared with January 2004, the largest increases in initial claims were reported in transportation equipment manufacturing (+20,217), transit and ground passenger transportation (+5,926), specialty trade contractors (+5,087), and heavy and civil engineering construction (+5,004). The largest over-the-year decreases in initial claims were reported in general merchandise stores (-4,221) and textile mills (-3,741).
