Mass Layoffs (Monthly) News Release — 2010-02-23

Employers took 1,761 mass layoff actions in January that resulted in the sepa- ration of 182,261 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. Both mass layoff events and initial claims increased from the prior month after four consecutive over-the-month decreases. In January, 486 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 62,556 initial claims. Both figures increased over the month--the first increases since August 2009 for events and since September 2009 for ini- tial claims. (See table 1.) During the 26 months from December 2007 through January 2010, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 53,739, and the associated num- ber of initial claims was 5,425,101.