2020 Major Work Stoppages (Annual) — 2021-02-19

In 2020, there were 8 major work stoppages beginning in the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. A major work stoppage involves 1,000 or more workers and lasts at least one shift during the work week, Monday through Friday excluding Federal holidays. This year had the third lowest number of major work stoppages since the series began in 1947. The lowest annual total was 5 in 2009, followed by 7 in 2017. For the past 20 years, on average, there have been 16 work stoppages beginning in the year. There were 27,000 workers involved in major work stoppages that began in 2020. The education and health services industry supersector accounted for over 75 percent of idled workers. Within these sectors, 21,700 workers were idled for 26 cumulative days. In 2017, 25,300 workers were idled and the information sector accounted for the majority of idled workers at 15,000 workers.