June 2001 — 2001-07-27

In June 2001, there were 2,081 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 250,359. (See table 1.) The number of layoff events and initial claimants for unemploy- ment insurance were the highest for the month of June since this series began in April 1995, due, in part, to a calendar effect. (June 2001 and June 2000 each contained 5 weeks for possible mass layoffs, compared with 4 weeks in each of the prior four Junes.) In January-June 2001, the total number of events, at 9,507, and initial claims, at 1,128,746, were higher than in January-June 2000 (7,470 and 819,545, respectively).