February 2002 — 2002-03-28

Employers initiated 1,383 mass layoff actions in February 2002, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, according to data from 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 138,984. (See table 1.) Compared with February 2001, the number of layoff events declined by 8 percent and the number of claimants fell by 20 percent. This was the second time in the last three months that layoff events and related initial claims declined over the year. This release uses the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) for the assignment and tabulation of layoff data by industry. Prior to January 2002, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system was used. Additional information on this change is provided in the box on page 3 of this release.