July 1999 — 1999-09-23

In July 1999, there were 1,742 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 221,605. Both the number of layoff events and the number of initial claimants for unemployment insurance were lower in July 1999 than in July 1998, when there were strike-related plant shutdowns in the transportation equipment and electronic equipment industries. (See table 1.) The monthly series in this release covers mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given month, regardless of the duration of the layoffs.