Mass Layoffs In August 2004 — 2004-09-23

In August 2004, employers took 809 mass layoff actions, 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 69,033. (See table 1.) Both the number of events and initial claims were lower than a year ago. It should be noted that August 2004 contained 4 weeks for possible mass layoffs, compared with 5 weeks in each August of the prior 3 years. (See the Tech- nical Note for an explanation of how the number of weeks for data collection can vary from month to month.) From January through August 2004, the total number of events, at 11,017, and of initial claims, at 1,118,574, were lower than in January-August 2003 (13,205 and 1,316,863, respectively).