December 1999 — 2000-02-23

In December 1999, there were 1,509 mass layoff actions by employers 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 162,381. Both the number of layoff events and the number of initial claimants for unemployment insurance were lower than in December 1998. The total of layoff events for 1999, at 14,909, and the total number of initial claimants, at 1,572,399, were lower than in 1998 (15,904 and 1,771,069, respectively). (See table 1.) Additional information on the annual data is provided in the Review of 1999 section on page 2 of this release. 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.