Manufacturing accounted for 31% of mass layoffs in April

Manufacturing accounted for 31% of mass layoffs in April

Author: RP news wires
In April, employers took 1,243 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 23. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment; the number of workers involved totaled 126,047, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events decreased by 33 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims fell by 4,640.

During April, 383 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 43,753 initial claims. Compared with March, mass layoff activity in manufacturing decreased by 37 events and by 10,688 initial claims.

The national unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in April, essentially unchanged from 4.4 percent the prior month and down from 4.7 percent a year earlier. Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 88,000 over the month and by 1.9 million over the year.

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)The 10 industries reporting the highest numbers of mass layoff initial claims, not seasonally adjusted, accounted for 42 percent of the total initial claims in April. The industry with the highest number of initial claims was school and employee bus transportation with 17,135, followed by motion picture and video production with 7,647, and temporary help services with 7,330. Together, these three industries accounted for 25 percent of all initial claims due to mass layoffs during the month.

The manufacturing sector accounted for 25 percent of all mass layoff events and 28 percent of all related initial claims filed in April; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 26 percent of events and 33 percent of initial claims. In April 2007, the number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing (11,466, largely heavy-duty truck manufacturing), followed by food manufacturing (5,925) and machinery manufacturing (2,392).

Transportation and warehousing accounted for 13 percent of mass layoff events and 15 percent of initial claims in April, primarily from school and employee bus transportation. Administrative and waste services comprised 12 percent of events and 9 percent of initial claims filed during the month, with the majority of layoffs in temporary help services. Three percent of all mass layoff events and 7 percent of related initial claims filed were from information, primarily from motion picture and video production. Accommodation and food services made up 6 percent of events and initial claims, largely from the food service contractors industry.

On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the number of mass layoff events in April, at 1,224, was up by 84 from a year earlier, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 5,685 to 127,274.

The largest over-the-year increases in initial claims were reported in motion picture and sound recording industries (+4,620), credit intermediation and related activities (+2,543), and hospitals (+1,360). The largest over-the-year decreases in mass layoff initial claims were reported in transportation equipment manufacturing (-2,693) and food manufacturing (-2,267).

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)Among the four census regions, the highest number of initial claims in April due to mass layoffs was in the West with 42,381. Motion picture and sound recording, administrative and support services, and agriculture and forestry support activities together accounted for 42 percent of all mass layoff initial claims in that region during the month. The Northeast had the second-largest number of initial claims among the regions with 35,637, followed by the South with 26,211, and the Midwest with 23,045.

The number of initial claimants in mass layoffs increased over the year in three of the four regions – the West (+8,184), the South (+7,928) and the Northeast (+1,022). The Midwest region experienced the only decrease (-11,449), primarily due to fewer initial claimants in transportation equipment manufacturing. Six of the nine geographic divisions had over-the-year increases in the numbers of initial claims associated with mass layoffs, with the largest increases in the Pacific (+5,929), the South Atlantic (+3,035) and the East South Central (+2,705). The division with the largest over-the-year decrease in mass layoff initial claims was the East North Central (-10,144).

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of initial claims filed due to mass layoff events in April (28,883), followed by New York (15,254), Pennsylvania (10,997), Ohio (6,024) and New Jersey (4,749). These five states accounted for 53 percent of all mass layoff events and 52 percent of all initial claims for unemployment insurance.

California had the largest over-the-year increase in the number of initial claims (+4,332). States having the next largest increases in initial claims were Pennsylvania (+2,295), South Carolina (+1,977), Arizona (+1,947) and New York (+1,868). The largest over-the-year decreases in claims occurred in Ohio (-6,158) and Michigan (-3,402).