Mass Layoffs In March 2003 — 2003-04-30

Employers initiated 1,170 mass layoff actions in March 2003, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, accord- ing 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 109,838. (See table 1.) These were the lowest levels for the month of March since 2000. Over 8 percent of the initial claims in March were from the temporary help services industry (9,138). Compared with March 2002, the number of layoff events declined by 20 percent and the number of workers involved fell by 32 percent. (March 2003 contained 4 weeks for possible mass layoffs, compared with 5 weeks in each March of the prior 3 years.) This was the 10th consecutive month that the number of mass layoff initial claims has declined over the year.