Fourth Quarter — 1999-04-14

In October through December of 1998, there were 1,660 mass layoff actions by employers that resulted in the separation of 342,010 workers from their jobs for more than 30 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. While layoff events were essentially unchanged from the fourth quarter of 1997, the number of separations was higher and the proportion of events with expectations of worker recall was lower in fourth quarter 1998. For the 4 quarters of 1998, the total of extended layoff events, at 5,759, and worker separations, at 1,163,805, were slightly higher than in 1997 (5,645 and 1,112,513, respectively). Seasonal work was the major reason cited and accounted for 45 percent of all fourth-quarter 1998 layoff events and 50 percent of all separations. Seasonal layoffs peak each year during the fourth quarter. Layoffs due to internal company restructuring resulted in 44,509 separations.