March 2000 — 2000-05-10

In March 2000, there were 986 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 106,748. Although the number of layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance were the highest for March since March 1996, this was due in part to a calendar effect. This year, 5 weeks of mass layoff activities were reported in March versus 4 weeks in 1996-1999. The total number of initial claimants during January-March of this year, at 433,968, was the highest since data collection for this program began in April 1995. (See table 1.) 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.