Mass Layoffs In October 2003 — 2003-11-26

Employers initiated 1,523 mass layoff actions in October 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 158,240. (See table 1.) Fewer mass-layoff initial claims were filed against employers in temporary help services, discount department stores, semiconductors and related devices, and broadwoven fabric mills compared with October 2002. The number of initial claims fell to their lowest levels for October since 2000. From January through October 2003, the total number of events, at 15,596, and the number of initial claims, at 1,557,750, were lower than the January-October period a year ago (15,650 events and 1,740,722 initial claims). 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.