Extended Mass Layoffs In The First Quarter Of 2005 — 2005-05-19

In the first quarter of 2005, 989 mass layoff actions were taken by employers that resulted in the separation of 156,252 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 January-March 2004, with events and separations at their lowest levels for any first quarter since the program began in April 1995. (See table A.) The declines over the year were most notable in food and beve- rage stores, general merchandise stores, and administrative and support services. 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 10 percent of the nonseasonal layoff events and accounted for about 13 percent of the worker separations in nonseasonal events.