Mass Layoffs In April 2003 — 2003-05-29

Employers initiated 1,576 mass layoff actions in April 2003, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, accord- ing 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 161,095. (See table 1.) Compared with April 2002, the number of layoff events increased slightly, while the number of workers involved declined. April 2003 marked the 11th consecutive month the number of mass layoff initial claims declined over the year. From January through April 2003, the total number of events, at 6,460, and initial claims, at 624,401, were lower than in January-April 2002 (6,496 and 730,002, respectively). 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.