Second Quarter — 1996-10-23

The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, in April through June of 1996, there were 1,247 mass layoff actions by employers, resulting in the separation of 226,449 workers from their jobs. A year earlier, employers reported 1,670 layoff events and 385,644 laid-off workers in the second quarter of 1995. "Seasonal work" was the major reason cited for the second quarter 1996 layoffs accounting for 37 percent of the events and 41 percent of the separations. "Slack work," "reorganization within the company," and "contract completion" were the next most often-cited reasons and together accounted for 36 percent of the events and 33 percent of the separations. Closure of worksites occurred in 26 percent of all events and directly affected over 68,000 workers. The Mass Layoff Statistics program covers layoffs of at least 31 days duration that involve 50 or more individuals from a single establishment filing initial claims for unemployment insurance during a consecutive 5- week period.