August 2000 — 2000-10-04

In August 2000, there were 751 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 97,215. (See table 1.) From January through August 2000, the total number of layoff events (9,554) was lower than in January-August 1999, while the total number of initial claims (1,081,738) was about the same. 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.