Technical information: (202) 691-6392 USDL 02-44 http://www.bls.gov/mls/ For release: 10:00 A.M. EST Media contact: 691-5902 Tuesday, January 29, 2002 MASS LAYOFFS IN DECEMBER 2001 In December 2001, there were 2,425 mass layoff actions by employers 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 267,839. (See table 1.) The number of layoff events and initial claimants for unemploy- ment insurance, while lower than in December 2000, were the second highest for the month of December since the series began in April 1995. (December 2001 contained 4 weeks for possible mass layoffs, compared with 5 weeks in December 2000.) The total of layoff events for all of 2001, at 21,345, and the total number of initial claimants, at 2,496,784, were considerably higher than in 2000 (15,738 and 1,835,592, respectively). Additional information on the annual data is provided in the review of 2001 section on page 2 of this release. Industry Distribution Manufacturing industries accounted for 46 percent of all mass layoff events and 52 percent of all initial claims filed in December 2001. A year earlier, layoffs in manufacturing accounted for 39 percent of events and 50 percent of initial claims. The highest numbers of initial claimants had worked in transportation equipment (21,344, mostly in motor vehicles parts and accessories), electronic and other electrical equipment (17,928, primarily in electronic components and in semiconductors and related devices), and industrial machinery and equipment (15,727, largely in refrigeration and heating equipment and in construction machinery). (See table 2.) Services accounted for 15 percent of events and initial claims filed during the month, with layoffs concentrated in business services, particularly help supply services. Fifteen percent of all layoff events and 11 percent of initial claims filed during the month were in construction, mostly in heavy construction, except buildings. Retail trade accounted for an additional 8 percent of both events and initial claims, primarily in eating and drinking places. Transportation and public utilities accounted for 6 percent of events and 7 percent of initial claims in December, mostly in local and interurban passenger transit (school buses). Compared with December 2000, the largest decreases in initial claims were reported in transportation equipment (-18,998), motion pictures (-6,611), and heavy construction, except buildings (-4,919). The largest over-the-year increase in initial claims was reported in electronic and other electrical equipment (+2,893). - 2 - Geographic Distribution In December, the highest number of initial claims due to mass layoffs was in the Midwest--119,250--largely in transportation equipment and heavy construction (except buildings). (See table 3.) The Northeast region continued to register the lowest number of mass layoff-related initial claims, 40,843. The number of initial claimants in mass layoffs declined in the Midwest (-38,236), the West (-15,803), and the South (-5,020). Six of the nine geographic divisions had over-the-year decreases in the number of initial claims associated with mass layoffs, with the largest decrease in the East North Central division (-37,840). Over the year, the largest increase in initial claims occurred in the West South Central division (+4,408). California registered the largest number of initial claims filed in mass layoff events, 39,239, mostly in business services (help supply services), followed by Michigan (34,681, primarily in transportation equipment), Pennsylvania (19,592, largely in electronic and other electrical equipment and in primary metals), Wisconsin (16,573, mostly in primary metals), and Illinois (15,387, particularly in industrial machinery). These five states accounted for 49 percent of all layoff events and 47 percent of all initial claims for unemployment insurance. (See table 4.) Illinois reported the largest over-the-year decrease (-13,770) in initial claims, followed by California (-13,337). The largest over-the- year increase occurred in Kansas (+4,116). Review of 2001 During 2001, 21,345 layoff events occurred in the nation, resulting in 2,496,784 initial claims filings for unemployment insurance. Both the number of events and the number of initial claimants were the highest in the nearly 7-year history of the program. (See table A.) Manufacturing accounted for 42 percent of all mass layoff events and 49 percent of initial claims filed during 2001, the largest annual shares to date. Initial claim filings were most numerous in transportation equipment (256,703), followed by electronic and other electrical equipment (167,125) and industrial machinery and equipment (146,265). Compared with 2000, the largest increase in initial claims occurred in electronic and other electrical equipment (+113,155). The largest over-the-year decrease in initial claims occurred in lumber and wood products (-5,062). The number of initial claims filed in 2001 due to mass layoffs was higher in the Midwest (841,597) than any other region. Layoffs in transportation equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, and electronic and other electrical equipment accounted for 39 percent of the claims in the Midwest. The fewest number of mass-layoff initial claims was reported in the Northeast region (340,246). Over-the-year increases in mass-layoff initial claims occurred in each of the four regions, with the largest in the Midwest (+258,307). Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, California recorded the largest number of initial claims filed in mass layoff events for the period (600,501). Michigan reported the largest over-the-year increase in initial claims (+66,819), followed by California (+63,828). The largest over-the-year decrease (-4,740) occurred in Virginia. - 3 - Table A. Number of mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 1996-2001 --------------------------------------------------------- | | | | Initial claimants for Year | Layoff events | unemployment insurance | | --------------------------------------------------------- 1996 | 14,111 | 1,437,628 1997 | 14,960 | 1,542,543 1998 | 15,904 | 1,771,069 1999 | 14,909 | 1,572,399 2000 | 15,738 | 1,835,592 2001p | 21,345 | 2,496,784 --------------------------------------------------------- p=preliminary. Note The monthly data series in this release cover mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given month, regardless of the duration of the layoffs. Information on the length of the layoff is obtained later and issued in a quarterly release that reports on mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days (referred to as "extended mass layoffs") and provides more information on the industry classification and location of the establish- ment and on the demographics of the laid-off workers. Because monthly figures include short-term layoffs of 30 days or less, the sum of the figures for the 3 months in a quarter will be higher than the quarterly figure for mass layoffs of more than 30 days. (See table 1.) See the Technical Note for more detailed definitions. ______________________________ The report on Extended Mass Layoffs in the Fourth Quarter of 2001 will be issued on Wednesday, February 13, 2002. - 4 - ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Change in Industry Classification System | | | | December and fourth quarter 2001 data will be the last from | |the Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program using the 1987 Standard | |Industrial Classification (SIC) system. Beginning with the release| |of data for January 2002 in late February 2002, the program will | |switch to the 2002 version of the North American Industry Classi- | |fication System (NAICS) as the basis for the assignment and tabula-| |tion of economic data by industry. NAICS is the product of a | |cooperative effort on the part of the statistical agencies of the | |United States, Canada, and Mexico. Due to differences in NAICS | |and SIC structures, data by industry for 2002 will not be compar- | |able to the SIC-based data for earlier years. However, the monthly| |historical industry series from April 1995 through December 2001 | |will be available on both SIC and NAICS bases. | | | | NAICS uses a production-oriented approach to categorize economic| |units. Units with similar production processes are classified in | |the same industry. NAICS focuses on how products and services are | |created, as opposed to the SIC focus on what is produced. This ap- | |proach yields significantly different industry groupings than those| |produced by the SIC approach. | | | | Users interested in more information about NAICS can access the | |BLS Web page at http://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm or the Bureau of | |the Census Web page at http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html. | ------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Note The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program is a federal-state program that uses a standardized, automated approach to identifying, describing, and tracking the effects of major job cutbacks, using data from each state's unemployment insurance database. Each month, states report on establishments which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a consecutive 5-week period. These establishments then are contacted by the state agency to determine whether these separations lasted 31 days or longer, and, if so, other information concerning the layoff is collected. States report on layoffs lasting more than 1 month on a quarterly basis. A given month contains an aggregation of the weekly unemployment insurance claims filings for the Sunday through Saturday weeks in that month. All weeks are included for the particular month, except if the first day of the month falls on Saturday. In this case, the week is included in the prior month's tabulations. This means that some months will contain 4 weeks and others 5 weeks, and the number of weeks in a given month may be different from year to year. Therefore, analysis of over-the- month and over-the-year change should take this calendar effect into consideration. The MLS program resumed operations in April 1995 after it had been terminated in November 1992 due to lack of funding. Prior to April 1995, monthly layoff statistics were not available. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339. Definitions Initial claimant. A person who files any notice of unemployment to initiate a request either for a determination of entitlement to and eligibility for compensation, or for a subsequent period of unemployment within a benefit year or period of eligibility. Mass layoff event. Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed against an establishment during a 5-week period, regardless of duration. Table 1. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, October 1999 to December 2001 Extended mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days Date Total mass layoffs Realization rates(1) Initial Initial Initial Events claimants Events claimants Events claimants 1999 October ................... 1,098 118,938 November .................. 1,336 139,508 December .................. 1,509 162,381 Fourth Quarter ............ 3,943 420,827 1,625 287,685 41.2 68.4 2000 January ................... 1,934 223,322 February .................. 1,045 103,898 March ..................... 986 106,748 First Quarter ............. 3,965 433,968 1,330 221,368 33.5 51.0 April ..................... 924 101,359 May ....................... 984 92,193 June ...................... 1,597 192,025 Second Quarter ............ 3,505 385,577 1,271 231,471 36.3 60.0 July ...................... 1,333 164,978 August .................... 751 97,215 September ................. 936 106,842 Third Quarter ............. 3,020 369,035 1,014 189,250 33.6 51.3 October ................... 874 103,755 November .................. 1,697 216,514 December .................. 2,677 326,743 Fourth Quarter ............ 5,248 647,012 2,005 376,362 38.2 58.2 2001 January ................... 1,522 200,343 February .................. 1,501 172,908 March ..................... 1,527 171,466 First Quarter ............. 4,550 544,717 1,765 338,596 38.8 62.2 April ..................... 1,450 175,911 May ....................... 1,426 157,759 June ...................... 2,081 250,359 Second Quarter ............ 4,957 584,029 2,055 387,880 41.5 66.4 July ...................... 2,108 272,308 August .................... 1,474 163,263 September ................. 1,316 158,859 Third Quarter ............. 4,898 594,430 (2)(p)1,689 (2)(p)233,780 (p)34.5 (p)39.3 October ................... 1,816 212,695 November(p)................ 2,699 293,074 December(p)................ 2,425 267,839 1 The event realization rate is the percentage of total mass layoff events lasting more than 30 days. The initial claimant realization rate is the percentage of total mass-layoff initial claimants associated with layoffs lasting more than 30 days. 2 These quarterly numbers are provisional and will increase as more data on these layoffs become available. Recent experience suggests that the number of extended mass layoff events is generally revised upwards by less than 10 percent and the number of initial claimants associated with such events increases by 25-40 percent. p = preliminary. Table 2. Industry distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance Initial claimants for Mass layoff events unemployment insurance Industry December October November December December October November December 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) Total(1) ...................................... 2,677 1,816 2,699 2,425 326,743 212,695 293,074 267,839 Total, private ..................................... 2,605 1,753 2,645 2,371 320,875 206,622 288,224 263,126 Agriculture ...................................... 152 99 312 89 11,007 8,134 22,476 6,503 Nonagriculture ................................... 2,388 1,653 2,330 2,278 301,367 198,431 265,506 256,351 Manufacturing .................................. 1,056 729 1,129 1,111 164,578 105,505 152,916 138,128 Durable goods ................................ 676 503 750 743 118,984 78,371 104,309 98,019 Lumber and wood products ................... 88 28 59 73 9,636 3,205 7,256 7,516 Furniture and fixtures ..................... 43 27 46 40 5,735 3,193 5,025 5,630 Stone, clay, and glass products ............ 56 20 33 48 7,397 2,596 3,397 4,621 Primary metal industries ................... 75 58 103 75 12,796 8,334 13,098 11,009 Fabricated metal products .................. 89 49 75 117 9,500 6,858 7,559 10,555 Industrial machinery and equipment ......... 88 91 139 112 14,979 11,988 19,587 15,727 Electronic and other electrical equipment .. 65 101 121 122 15,035 13,080 18,295 17,928 Transportation equipment ................... 139 99 133 121 40,342 25,524 24,691 21,344 Instruments and related products ........... 10 21 14 14 1,080 2,677 1,686 1,291 Miscellaneous manufacturing industries ..... 23 9 27 21 2,484 916 3,715 2,398 Nondurable goods ............................. 380 226 379 368 45,594 27,134 48,607 40,109 Food and kindred products .................. 98 73 121 100 11,932 8,467 12,398 11,218 Tobacco products ........................... 4 - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 338 - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) Textile mill products ...................... 50 30 57 46 7,874 6,073 8,445 6,538 Apparel and other textile products ......... 66 43 44 44 6,395 5,078 6,637 3,543 Paper and allied products .................. 27 13 30 28 2,876 1,315 4,363 2,441 Printing and publishing .................... 16 14 24 23 1,788 1,063 2,342 1,633 Chemicals and allied products .............. 14 16 13 14 1,201 1,429 1,377 1,228 Petroleum and coal products ................ 14 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,437 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) Rubber and miscellaneous plastics products . 81 34 68 90 10,498 3,401 10,876 11,188 Leather and leather products ............... 10 ( 2 ) 11 14 1,255 ( 2 ) 958 1,466 Nonmanufacturing ............................... 1,332 924 1,201 1,167 136,789 92,926 112,590 118,223 Mining ....................................... 26 10 22 30 2,379 1,191 2,396 3,473 Construction ................................. 433 99 312 359 37,175 8,692 28,508 28,444 Transportation and public utilities .......... 152 141 120 150 17,514 15,950 11,384 18,909 Wholesale and retail trade ................... 247 182 221 231 26,324 16,742 21,240 24,326 Wholesale trade ........................... 48 39 57 35 4,796 3,228 4,601 2,612 Retail trade .............................. 199 143 164 196 21,528 13,514 16,639 21,714 Finance, insurance, and real estate .......... 26 43 43 31 2,177 3,620 3,685 2,367 Services ..................................... 448 449 483 366 51,220 46,731 45,377 40,704 Not identified ................................... 65 1 3 4 8,501 57 242 272 Government ......................................... 72 63 54 54 5,868 6,073 4,850 4,713 Federal .......................................... 6 20 10 7 583 2,151 1,020 651 State ............................................ 20 18 20 15 1,705 1,890 1,826 1,205 Local ............................................ 46 25 24 32 3,580 2,032 2,004 2,857 1 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia. 2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. p = preliminary. NOTE: Dash represents zero. Table 3. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance by census region and division Mass layoff events Initial claimants for unemployment insurance Census region and division December October November December December October November December 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) United States(1) .... 2,677 1,816 2,699 2,425 326,743 212,695 293,074 267,839 Northeast ................... 397 273 388 401 40,688 29,900 41,738 40,843 New England ............. 95 57 76 116 10,739 7,258 8,813 12,809 Middle Atlantic ......... 302 216 312 285 29,949 22,642 32,925 28,034 South ....................... 487 433 517 436 56,297 49,275 66,838 51,277 South Atlantic .......... 246 238 287 185 29,409 24,849 35,748 19,366 East South Central ...... 119 64 90 124 14,617 7,944 13,464 15,232 West South Central ...... 122 131 140 127 12,271 16,482 17,626 16,679 Midwest ..................... 1,079 450 793 1,013 157,486 68,814 101,147 119,250 East North Central ...... 837 360 615 774 125,559 51,022 79,965 87,719 West North Central ...... 242 90 178 239 31,927 17,792 21,182 31,531 West ........................ 714 660 1,001 575 72,272 64,706 83,351 56,469 Mountain ................ 94 68 120 83 9,093 6,361 14,802 8,547 Pacific ................. 620 592 881 492 63,179 58,345 68,549 47,922 1 See footnote 1, table 2. p = preliminary. NOTE: The States (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the census divisions are: New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; South Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia; East South Central: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee; West South Central: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; East North Central: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; West North Central: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; and Pacific: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. Table 4. State distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance Initial claimants for Mass layoff events unemployment insurance State December October November December December October November December 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) 2000 2001 2001(p) 2001(p) Total(1) ................. 2,677 1,816 2,699 2,425 326,743 212,695 293,074 267,839 Alabama ..................... 17 9 23 12 2,086 1,113 2,402 1,902 Alaska ...................... 7 4 6 3 619 381 651 237 Arizona ..................... 6 12 17 10 408 823 1,663 831 Arkansas .................... 14 5 11 10 1,765 734 2,500 1,030 California .................. 534 516 782 406 52,576 48,316 57,804 39,239 Colorado .................... 12 16 29 14 983 1,594 3,044 1,295 Connecticut ................. 7 6 9 9 677 366 745 674 Delaware .................... ( 2 ) 8 ( 2 ) 4 ( 2 ) 970 ( 2 ) 521 District of Columbia ........ 3 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 265 350 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) Florida ..................... 66 119 102 54 4,956 9,065 10,138 4,136 Georgia ..................... 29 16 26 15 2,965 1,742 3,714 1,268 Hawaii ...................... ( 2 ) 20 10 5 ( 2 ) 2,130 924 494 Idaho ....................... 17 11 27 17 2,201 1,638 3,250 1,914 Illinois .................... 157 83 106 130 29,157 12,717 13,648 15,387 Indiana ..................... 95 43 65 77 17,391 5,845 8,775 9,516 Iowa ........................ 67 26 50 63 9,619 3,598 6,647 7,523 Kansas ...................... 19 5 13 25 1,949 2,940 1,613 6,065 Kentucky .................... 68 28 44 74 9,418 4,078 8,863 9,912 Louisiana ................... 20 5 7 9 1,345 282 537 565 Maine ....................... 10 ( 2 ) 7 7 1,168 ( 2 ) 827 571 Maryland .................... 9 7 11 6 709 651 878 451 Massachusetts ............... 41 39 41 52 3,887 4,612 4,617 5,534 Michigan .................... 301 88 158 298 43,436 10,349 23,102 34,681 Minnesota ................... 55 19 62 55 7,140 1,989 6,934 6,181 Mississippi ................. 11 11 7 11 1,110 1,288 499 740 Missouri .................... 93 36 33 70 12,435 8,844 3,704 8,799 Montana ..................... 4 ( 2 ) 5 4 585 ( 2 ) 562 728 Nebraska .................... 4 ( 2 ) 10 19 367 ( 2 ) 1,347 2,324 Nevada ...................... 44 23 18 30 4,091 1,797 2,730 3,202 New Hampshire ............... 10 3 6 17 1,445 1,213 1,277 1,930 New Jersey .................. 51 40 48 45 5,250 6,229 5,155 5,416 New Mexico .................. 5 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 4 292 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 246 New York .................... 41 47 51 35 3,980 4,546 5,384 3,026 North Carolina .............. 25 29 46 20 2,893 3,997 4,764 1,869 North Dakota ................ ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 8 4 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 809 352 Ohio ........................ 142 73 103 123 18,623 13,435 10,918 11,562 Oklahoma .................... 13 11 14 19 937 1,237 2,648 3,214 Oregon ...................... 42 30 54 54 5,545 5,009 6,674 5,946 Pennsylvania ................ 210 129 213 205 20,719 11,867 22,386 19,592 Rhode Island ................ 19 4 6 19 2,522 464 772 2,288 South Carolina .............. 51 36 61 36 8,404 5,361 10,651 5,049 South Dakota ................ 3 - ( 2 ) 3 362 - ( 2 ) 287 Tennessee ................... 23 16 16 27 2,003 1,465 1,700 2,678 Texas ....................... 75 110 108 89 8,224 14,229 11,941 11,870 Utah ........................ 6 3 20 4 533 307 3,184 331 Vermont ..................... 8 3 7 12 1,040 462 575 1,812 Virginia .................... 59 20 35 47 8,561 2,713 5,125 5,875 Washington .................. 36 22 29 24 4,379 2,509 2,496 2,006 West Virginia ............... ( 2 ) - 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) - 229 ( 2 ) Wisconsin ................... 142 73 183 146 16,952 8,676 23,522 16,573 Wyoming ..................... - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) - - ( 2 ) ( 2 ) - Puerto Rico ................. 18 12 13 9 2,413 1,035 1,524 1,281 1 See footnote 1, table 2. 2 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. p = preliminary. NOTE: Dash represents zero.