U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Western Information Office

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Employers in California took 4,378 mass layoff actions in 2011 that resulted in the separation of 377,413 workers, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1.) Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance has declined each of the last two years after reaching 532,028 in 2009. Initial claims have exceeded 500,000 five times in the history of the series, which goes back to 1996 on an annual basis.

Industry distribution

Of all the industry sectors in California, administrative and waste services experienced the most mass layoff events in 2011 with 597. (See table 1.) This sector also had the largest number of initial claimants at 60,147, making up 15.9 percent of the state’s total. (See chart 1.) Local government was second with 492 mass layoff events, though the 38,743 associated initial claims for unemployment ranked third. Information, with 284 events, ranked second in claims with 55,969. Combined, these three industry sectors accounted for 41.0 percent of all initial claimants in the state in 2011.

Of those sectors recording a drop in mass layoffs-related initial claims from 2010 to 2011, manufacturing had the largest decline at 11,390, with the transportation equipment and computer and electronics equipment industries accounting for nearly half of the decrease. Construction had the second-largest decline (-8,095), followed by local government (-7,962). Five other sectors finished 2011 with at least 1,000 fewer initial claimants than in 2010, and four of these registered drops of more than 2,500. (See table A.) On a percentage basis, mining experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in annual claims, down 60.8 percent, followed by federal government, down 55.1 percent.

In contrast, the number of initial claims associated with mass layoff events in 2011 increased in six industry sectors. Three of these sectors finished the year with at least 1,000 more claimants above the 2010 level. Administrative and waste services led with 2,221 more claims, an increase of 3.8 percent. Information had the second highest increase in claims, up 2,065 or 3.8 percent, followed by professional and technical services, up 1,271 or 5.9 percent.

State Comparisons

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of mass layoff initial claims, 377,413, in 2011. Pennsylvania ranked second with 124,838, followed by New York (119,398) and Florida (79,766). Twenty-nine states experienced over-the-year decreases in total initial claims for the year, led by California (-42,396), Illinois (-19,191), and Florida (-9,010). One state, South Dakota, experienced no change in its initial claims count, while twenty states and the District of Columbia had increases in annual claims from 2010 to 2011, led by North Carolina (22,393) and Pennsylvania (12,270). In three of these states, Arkansas, Nebraska, and North Carolina, initial claims reached a series high in 2011.

Technical Note

The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program is a federal-state program that uses a standardized automated approach to identifying, describing, and tracking the effects of major job cutbacks, using data from each state's unemployment insurance database. Each month, states report on employers which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a consecutive 5-week period. These employers then are contacted by the state agency to determine whether these separations lasted 31 days or longer, and, if so, other information concerning the layoff is collected. States report on layoffs lasting more than 1 month on a quarterly basis.

A given month contains an aggregation of the weekly unemployment insurance claims filings for the Sunday through Saturday weeks in that month. All weeks are included for the particular month, except if the first day of the month falls on Saturday. In this case, the week is included in the prior month's tabulations. This means that some months will contain 4 weeks and others, 5 weeks. The number of weeks in a given month may be different from year to year, and the number of weeks in a year may vary. Therefore, analysis of over-the-month and over-the-year change in not seasonally adjusted series should take this calendar effect into consideration.

The MLS program resumed operations in April 1995 after it had been terminated in November 1992 due to lack of funding. Prior to April 1995, monthly layoff statistics were not available.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Definitions. Employer. Employers in the MLS program include those covered by state unemployment insurance laws. Information on employers is obtained from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, which is administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Industry. Employers are classified according to the 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For temporary help and professional employer organization industries, monthly MLS-related statistics generally reflect layoffs related to underlying client companies in other industries. An individual layoff action at a client company can be small, but when initial claimants associated with many such layoffs are assigned to a temporary help or professional employer organization firm, a mass layoff event may trigger.

Initial claimant. A person who files any notice of unemployment to initiate a request either for a determination of entitlement to and eligibility for compensation, or for a subsequent period of unemployment within a benefit year or period of eligibility.

Mass layoff event. Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed against an employer during a 5-week period, regardless of duration.

Additional information

For personal assistance or further information on the Mass Layoffs Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Western Information Office at (415) 625-2270 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PT.

Last Modified Date: July 24, 2012