Mass Layoffs In November 2002 — 2002-12-24

Employers initiated 2,150 mass layoff actions in November 2002, as mea- sured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, according to 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 240,028. (See table 1.) In November 2001, there were 2,721 mass layoff events involving 295,956 workers. In January through November 2002, both the total number of events, 17,799, and initial claims, 1,980,856, were lower than in January-November 2001 (19,027 and 2,245,969, 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.