Extended Mass Layoffs (Quarterly) News Release — 2008-05-15

(NOTE: This news release was reissued on Friday, May 16, 2008, to correct a data value shown in table 10. The value for total private nonfarm separations in the first quarter 2008 was corrected from 8,326 to 188,326. Data in the other tables and other figures in the text were not affected by this correction.) In the first quarter of 2008, there were 1,111 mass layoff events that resulted in the separation of 188,326 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. A strike at a transportation equip- ment manufacturer was a contributing factor in 31 extended layoff events affecting 19,887 workers at other firms. The total number of layoff events was essentially unchanged from the January-March 2007 time period, while the number of associated separations was lower. (See table A.) First quarter 2008 layoff data are preliminary and are subject to revision.