May 2000 — 2000-06-30

In May 2000, there were 984 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 92,193. Both the number of layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance were the lowest for May since 1996. The total of layoff events from January through May 2000, at 5,873, and the total number of initial claimants, at 627,520, were lower than in January-May 1999 (6,670 and 648,308, respectively). (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.