Mass Layoffs In August 2007 — 2007-09-21

In August, employers took 1,189 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor report- ed today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer; the number of workers involved totaled 118,120, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events in August decreased by 32 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims fell by 6,715. Over the month, 325 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 35,676 initial claims. Compared with July, mass layoff activity in manufacturing decreased by 58 events, and initial claims declined by 14,360. (See table 1.) From January through August 2007, the total number of events (seasonally adjusted), at 9,843, and initial claims (seasonally adjusted), at 1,016,492, were higher than in January-August 2006 (9,063 and 951,202, respectively).