Fourth Quarter — 2002-02-13

Employers reported the separation of 486,406 workers from their jobs for more than 30 days in 2,538 mass layoff actions in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both the number of separations and the number of layoff events were sharply higher than in October-December 2000. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter of significant over-the-year increases in extended mass layoff activity. Fourth-quarter 2001 marked the largest number of extended mass layoff events and separations for any fourth quarter since 1995. (See table A.) The completion of seasonal work was the major reason cited for layoffs in the fourth quarter, accounting for 38 percent of all events. The number of such events, however, was down from a year earlier. In contrast, the number of extended mass layoff events in which firms cited financial difficulty, slack work, bankruptcy, and reorganization were all up substantially since the fourth quarter of 2000.