Mass Layoffs In August 2003 — 2003-09-25

Employers initiated 1,258 mass layoff actions in August 2003, 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 133,839. (See table 1.) Compared with August 2002, both the number of layoff events and the number of initial claims increased, marking the first over-the-year increase in mass-layoff initial claims since May 2002. From January through August 2003, the total number of events, at 13,205, was higher than for the same period a year ago, while the number of initial claims, at 1,316,863, was lower. 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.