Extended Mass Layoffs In The Third Quarter Of 2005 — 2005-11-17

In the third quarter of 2005, employers took 742 mass layoff actions that resulted in the separation of 136,280 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. Both the total number of layoff events and the number of separations were sharply lower than during the July-September 2004 time period and were at their lowest levels for any third quarter since data collection began in 1995. (See table A.) The declines over the year were most notable in administrative and support services, credit intermediation and related activities, and food manufac- turing. Extended mass layoffs that involve the movement of work within the same company or to a different company, either domestically or outside the U.S., occurred in 11 percent of the nonseasonal layoff events and 14 per- cent of worker separations.