September mass layoffs highest since November 2001

Mass layoff data for September 2005 reflect the impact of Hurricane Katrina on workers in Louisiana and Mississippi and, to a lesser extent, the impact of Hurricane Rita on workers in Texas. In September 2005, employers took 2,069 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 257,454, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The 2,069 layoffs — a 927-rise from the previous month — is the highest number of events for any month since November 2001 and the fourth highest number of events since the program began in April 1995.

In the U.S. as a whole, the manufacturing sector accounted for 20 percent of all mass layoff events and 24 percent of all initial claims filed in September 2005. A year earlier, manufacturing comprised 27 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. Within manufacturing, the number of claimants in September 2005 was highest in transportation equipment (14,934, largely in the ship building and repairing industry in the Katrina-affected areas), followed by food manufacturing (5,584).

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