Extended Mass Layoffs (Quarterly) News Release — 2008-02-14

In the fourth quarter of 2007, there were 1,619 mass layoff events that resulted in the separation of 265,454 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The construction industry experi- enced a record high in both layoff events and separations in the fourth quarter of 2007. Other industries registering fourth quarter highs in terms of separated workers were arts, entertainment, and recreation and finance and insurance, the latter mostly due to higher layoff activity in credit intermediation and related activities. Both the total number of layoff events and the number of separations were lower than during the October-December 2006 time period. (See table A.) Fourth quarter 2007 layoff data are preliminary and are subject to revision.