March 1997 — 1997-06-11

In March 1997, there were 697 mass layoff actions by employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 76,704 persons. Both layoff events and the number of workers involved were lower than in March 1996. (See table 1.) To bring the publication of monthly mass layoff data current, this release contains monthly data for January, February, and March 1997 in the attached tables, as well as an analysis of March data. The monthly series in this release covers mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given month, regardless of duration.