December 2000 — 2001-02-01

In December 2000, there were 2,677 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; the number of workers involved totaled 326,743. (See table 1.) The number of layoff events and initial claims for unemployment insurance were the highest for the month of December since the series began in 1995; part of the increase was due to a calendar effect, since December 2000 contained 5 weeks that ended in the month compared with 4 weeks in each of the prior four Decembers. The total of layoff events for all of 2000, at 15,738, and the total number of initial claimants, at 1,835,592, were higher than in 1999 (14,909 and 1,572,399, respectively). Additional information on the annual data is provided in the Review of 2000 section on page 2 of this release.