Extended Mass Layoffs In The Fourth Quarter Of 2004 — 2005-02-16

In the fourth quarter of 2004, 1,295 mass layoff actions were taken by employers that resulted in the separation of 236,637 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. Both the total number of layoff events and the number of separations were sharply lower than in October-December 2003, with separations at its lowest level for any fourth quarter since the program began in 1995. (See table A.) The declines over the year were most notable in food and beverage stores, administrative and support services, heavy and civil engineering construction, and transportation equipment manufacturing. Extended mass layoffs that involve the movement of work within the same company or to a different company, domestically or outside the U.S., occurred in about 11 percent of the nonseasonal layoff events and accounted for about 14 percent of the worker separations in nonseasonal events.