Extended Mass Layoffs

in 2009

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

December 2010

Report 1025

BLS

Introduction

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts the Mass 

Layoff Statistics (MLS) program to provide information on largescale layoff events and the characteristics of the dislocated workers. This report summarizes the data on extended layoffs for all of 

2009. Extended mass layoffs, as defined by the MLS program, refer to layoffs of at least 31 days’ duration that involve the filing of 

initial claims for unemployment insurance by 50 or more individuals from a single establishment during a period of 5 consecutive 

weeks. Since 2004, the detailed reports no longer cover Government and agricultural layoffs. Additional information about the 

program is provided in the technical note that follows the tables. 

In 2009, employers laid off about 2.1 million workers in 11,827 

private nonfarm extended mass layoff events. Both layoff events 

and separations rose sharply from 2008. The numbers of layoff 

events and separations in 2009 registered their highest levels 

since annual data became available in 1996. Most of the increase 

in 2009 layoff activity occurred in the first quarter. (See table 1.) 

In terms of worker separations, historic highs for the data series were reached in 16 of 18 industry sectors, all 9 geographic 

Census divisions, and 28 States. Layoffs attributed to business 

demand factors (especially slack work or insufficient demand) accounted for more than 825,000 worker separations, the highest 

annual level due to demand factors on record. Layoff activity 

involving permanent worksite closures accounted for 9 percent 

of all extended mass layoff events and affected 237,821 workers 

in 2009. Thirty-four percent of employers reporting an extended 

mass layoff in 2009 indicated they anticipated some type of recall 

of workers, the lowest proportion since 1996. The total number 

of business functions reported by employers in nonseasonal layoff 

events in 2009 was 18,865, an increase of 55 percent from 12,177 

business functions a year earlier.

In 2009, the average national unemployment rate was 9.3 percent; a year earlier, it was 5.8 percent. Private nonfarm payroll 

employment decreased by 5 percent, or 5,910,000 jobs, from 

2008 to 2009. 

Industry distribution of 2009 mass layoffs

• In 2009, all 18 major sectors posted over-the-year increases 

in separations when compared with 2008. Manufacturing 

recorded the largest increase in extended mass layoff separations between 2008 and 2009 (+184,295), followed by administrative and waste services (+105,286) and retail trade 

(+54,583). (See table 3.) 

• Manufacturing establishments accounted for 32 percent of 

extended mass layoff events and separations in 2009—the 

highest percentages recorded for manufacturing since 1996. 

Within the manufacturing industry, transportation equipment 

(largely automobiles) and machinery manufacturing (mostly 

construction machinery) firms accounted for 41 percent of 

the separations in 2009. The number of separations due to 

extended mass layoffs increased in 17 of 21 manufacturing 

subsectors from 2008 to 2009. (See tables 2 and 3.)

• Administrative and waste services accounted for 9 percent 

of layoff events and 12 percent of separations, largely due 

to business demand reasons in the administrative and support services subsector. (See table 2.) In 2009, the number 

of mass layoff separations (246,258) in administrative and 

waste services reached their highest levels since 1996.

• Construction (mainly in specialty trade contractors and in 

heavy and civil engineering) accounted for 17 percent of 

private nonfarm mass layoff events and 12 percent of separations in 2009. The number of laid-off construction workers reached a historic high at 245,770, with annual data 

available back to 1996. (See table 2.) Sixty-three percent of 

all construction layoffs were due to the completion of contracts and the ending of seasonal work. Employers expected 

a recall in 56 percent of the construction layoff events, the 

second lowest percentage on record for the industry.

• Among the 86 three-digit NAICS-coded industry groups in 

the private nonfarm economy identified in the MLS program, 68 posted increases in the number of separated workers during 2009. Of these, administrative and support services recorded the largest increase (+104,291), followed by 

transportation equipment manufacturing (+48,907) and machinery manufacturing (+40,410). Fourteen industries registered decreases, led by wood product manufacturing with 

9,006 fewer separated workers than the previous year. In 

2008, separations in wood product manufacturing reached a 

program high.

• At the three-digit NAICS industry level, machinery manufacturing moved into the top 10 in terms of worker separations in 2009, with general merchandise stores dropping 

from the top 10. (See table 4.) Among the six-digit NAICS 

industries, light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing and 

commercial banking moved into the top 10 in terms of separations, replacing discount department stores and real estate 

credit. (See table 5.)
2

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Year

Separations

Seasonal Business demand Organizational changes

Financial issues Production specific Disaster/Safety 

1 The chart excludes information on layoffs due to other/miscellaneous reasons.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Reason for layoff

• Based on the seven categories of economic reasons for 

extended mass layoffs, events related to business demand 

factors (contract cancellation, contract completion, domestic competition, excess inventory, import completion, and 

slack work) accounted for 46 percent of layoff events and 

39 percent of separations, the highest percentages of both 

events and separations for this category in program history. 

(See table 6 and the chart.)

• Within the business demand group, slack work/insufficient 

demand and contract completion together accounted for 93 

percent of the events and separations. The number of layoff 

events due to excess inventory/saturated market increased 

from 40 in 2008 to 89 in 2009.

• In 2009, seasonal reasons accounted for 19 percent of all 

extended mass layoff events and separations, down from 

24 percent of events and 26 percent of separations in 2008. 

(See table 6.) Food services and drinking places and transit 

and ground passenger transportation had the largest numbers of worker separations due to the ending of seasonal 

work.

• The largest over-the-year increase in layoffs, categorized 

by reason for layoff, occurred because of business demand 

factors (+308,164). This increase was largely due to more 

layoff activity in administrative and support services, machinery manufacturing, specialty trade contracting, and 

transportation equipment manufacturing. Employers citing 

financial issues reported the next highest increase in laidoff workers (+63,311). Layoffs due to production-specific 

factors had the largest decrease in worker separations when 

compared to 2008 (-14,315). (See tables 6 and 7.)

Movement of Work

• Movement of work occurred in 351 extended mass layoff 

events in 2009. This was 4 percent of all nonseasonal and 

nonvacation period extended mass layoff events and resulted in the separation of 61,994 workers. Compared with 

2008, the number of events and associated job separations 

involving movement of work increased by 6 percent and 2 

percent, respectively. (See tables 9 and 13.)

• Among the 351 layoff events with reported relocation of work, 

58 percent involved the permanent closure of worksites, which 

affected 37,265 workers. Manufacturing industries (largely 

Extended mass layoff separations, by reason categories1 2001–09
3

computer and electronic products and transportation equipment) accounted for 64 percent of events and 62 percent of 

separations in which work moved. (See table 9.) Organizational change (business ownership change and reorganization or restructuring of company) was cited as the economic 

reason for layoff in 37 percent of events and 35 percent of 

separations associated with the movement of work. (See 

table 10.)

• The West led all regions in terms of separations (17,808) associated with movement of work, followed by the Midwest 

(17,684). (See table 11.) All regions, except the Midwest, 

experienced over-the-year increases in the number of laidoff workers in events involving some movement of work in 

2009. The West recorded the largest over-the-year percentage increase (32 percent), followed by the Northeast (17 

percent) and the South (14 percent).

• Benefit exhaustion rates were higher for claimants in layoffs involving the movement of work than for nonseasonal 

and nonvacation layoffs with no movement of work. Over 

one-third of such claimants associated with 2009 events received final payments. Also, in movement of work events, 

the claimants in the oldest age category (55 years and older) 

were the most likely to exhaust their benefits. (See table 

12.)

• The 351 extended layoff events with movement of work 

in 2009 involved 491 identifiable relocations of work actions. (See table 13.) Employers were able to provide more 

complete separations information for 317 of the work actions. Eighty-eight percent of the 317 involved work moving within the same company, and 74 percent were domestic 

reassignments. For domestic relocations, employers cited 

California more than any other state as the location to which 

work was moving, followed by Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, 

and Pennsylvania. 

• Of the 317 events with identifiable relocations of work actions, 26 percent involved work moving out-of-country. 

(See table 14.) In 57 percent of cases, employers reported 

that the work had moved to either Mexico or China.

Size of layoff

• Smaller-size layoffs—those involving fewer than 150 workers in the layoff event—accounted for 66 percent of the total 

11,827 events in 2009, the second highest percentage for 

this size-category in program history. These smaller layoff 

events, however, accounted for only 32 percent of all separations, about the same proportion as 2008. (See table 15.)

• The average number of separations per layoff event in 2009 

was 178, down from 184 in 2008. Employers reporting the 

worksite as permanently closed averaged 216 job separations per event, down from 240 in 2008. (See table 16.) 

• Among private sector employers, the accommodation and 

food services industry recorded the largest average number 

of separations per event (239 workers), followed by retail 

trade (229 workers) and arts, entertainment, and recreation 

(228 workers). Establishments with the smallest average 

layoff size were those in construction (122 workers), followed by real estate and rental and leasing (132 workers). 

(See table 16.)

• Employers citing bankruptcy as the reason for layoff had 

the highest average layoff size per event (389 workers), 

followed by governmental regulations/intervention (324 

workers), business-ownership change (309 workers), and 

extreme weather (274 workers). Layoffs due to domestic 

competition and energy-related issues averaged the fewest 

separations per layoff event (100 and 110 workers, respectively). (See table 16.)

Initial claimants

• In 2009, a program high 2.4 million initial claimants for unemployment insurance were associated with extended mass 

layoff events. Of these, 36 percent were women, 14 percent 

were Black, 16 percent were Hispanic, 34 percent were between the ages of 30 and 44, and 19 percent were 55 or 

older. (See tables 17 and 19.) In the total civilian labor force 

in 2009, 47 percent were women, 11 percent were Black, 15 

percent were Hispanic, 33 percent were between the ages of 

30 and 44, and 19 percent were 55 or older. 

• The percentage of claimants who were women decreased to 

a record low 36 percent in 2009. The proportion of claimants who were women was highest in health care and social 

assistance (83 percent) and in private educational services 

(68 percent). (See table 19.)

• People of Hispanic origin accounted for 16 percent of the 

claimants involved in extended mass layoff events in 2009, 

about the same proportion as in 2008. The percentage of 

claimants who were Hispanic in 2009 was highest in administrative and waste services (25 percent) and health care and 

social assistance (24 percent). (See table 18.)

• The percentage of White claimants reached a record low in 

2009 (57.9 percent), and the proportion of Black claimants 

was 14 percent, down from 15 percent in 2008. Establishments providing other services except public administration 

reported the highest percentage of Black claimants (24 percent), followed by educational services and by health care 

and social assistance (22 percent each).

• Claimants between the ages of 30 and 44 accounted for 34 

percent of all claimants from extended mass layoffs. The 

proportion of claimants in this age group was highest in 

construction (40 percent) and finance and insurance (39 

percent). (See table 19.) A program high 19 percent of all 

claimants were aged 55 and over in 2009. The proportion of 

claimants in this age group was highest in management of 

companies and enterprises (29 percent); transportation and 

warehousing (26 percent); and professional and technical 

services (26 percent). 

Duration of insured unemployment

• The national average duration of insured unemployment 

associated with extended mass layoffs was 2.3 months (as 
4

measured by the average number of continued claims for 

unemployment insurance filed for the weeks that followed 

the initial claim and included the 12th day of the month). 

Among the States, Mississippi reported the longest duration of insured unemployment, with the average unemployment spell of nearly 4 months. The State with the next 

longest duration of insured unemployment was Colorado 

(with continued claims lasting an average of 3.6 months), 

followed by North Carolina (3.5 months) and the District of 

Columbia (3.4 months). Claimants experiencing the shortest insured jobless duration were separated from employers 

located in Kentucky, Nebraska, and North Dakota.

• Nationally, 24 percent of claimants associated with extended mass layoff events exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits in 2009. Among the States, North Carolina 

reported the highest benefit exhaustion rate (47 percent), 

followed by Mississippi (44 percent), Florida (40 percent), 

and Tennessee (39 percent). States registering the lowest 

percentages of exhaustees were West Virginia, Nebraska, 

and Colorado. (See table 20.) 

• The longest average jobless duration was experienced by 

claimants laid off from the finance and insurance sector 

(3.5 months). Claimants laid off from utilities experienced 

the shortest period of insured joblessness (1.7 months). 

Benefit exhaustion rates were highest among workers in 

finance and insurance (40 percent), compared with workers 

in utilities who had the lowest rates (14 percent). (See table 

21.)

• Claimants laid off because of organizational changes and 

financial issues reported the longest jobless duration (3 

months and 2.9 months, respectively). The shortest duration occurred in layoffs due to disaster or safety issues (1.7 

months). (See table 21.)

• Benefit exhaustion rates were higher for claimants involved 

with worksite closures (40 percent), when compared with 

claimants affected by nonclosure layoff events. Claimants 

associated with layoffs from employers who did not expect 

a recall experienced a higher average benefit exhaustion 

rate (30 percent) than did workers affected by layoff events 

that were expected to lead to a recall (16 percent). (See table 

21.)

• Among the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas in terms 

of the level of extended mass layoff initial claims activity, 

claimants residing in Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO, reported the longest jobless duration (with an average of 4.1 

monthly continued claims), followed by claimants living in 

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC, (3.6 months) and 

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, (3.4 months). 

Extended mass layoff claimants residing in Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN, experienced the shortest duration 

of unemployment (half a month). Benefit exhaustion rates 

were highest for claimants in Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock 

Hill, NC-SC (47 percent), and Miami-Fort LauderdalePompano Beach, FL (46 percent). (See table 22.)

• Claimants age 55 and older and claimants under the age of 

30 had the highest exhaustion rates (25 percent). Women 

had higher exhaustion rates (26 percent) than men (22 percent). Black claimants reported higher benefit exhaustion 

rates (29 percent) than people of any other race or ethnic 

category. (See table 23.)

Geographic distribution

• In 2009, employers in the West reported the highest number 

of separations due to extended mass layoffs (710,369). (See 

table 24.) All four regions reached program highs for layoff 

events and associated separations (with data available back 

to 1996). All nine geographic divisions had an increase in 

separations in 2009, with the largest increases in the Pacific 

(+177,082), Middle Atlantic (+101,347), and South Atlantic 

(+82,363) divisions. (See table 24.)

• California had the largest number of worker separations, 

497,190, in 2009. The States with the next-highest totals 

of separations (including seasonal layoffs) were Illinois 

(140,451) and Florida (138,840). (See table 25.) Forty-six 

States and the District of Columbia had over-the-year increases in the number of laid-off workers, led by California 

(+153,323), Pennsylvania (+47,310), and New York (+39,555). 

• In 2009, twenty-eight States—Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, 

Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, 

New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, 

Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—

reached their highest annual totals of laid-off workers.

• Eighty percent of the initial claimants associated with extended mass layoff events in 2009 resided within metropolitan areas, about the same as in 2008 (78 percent). Among 

the 372 metropolitan areas, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa 

Ana, CA, reported the highest number of resident initial 

claimants (183,917). Two hundred fifteen metropolitan 

areas reached program highs in 2009 (with data available 

back to 1996). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, entered the top 10 metropolitan areas in terms of resident initial claimants, while Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, 

CA, dropped out of the top 10. (See table 26.)

Recall expectations

• In 2009, employers expected a recall in 34 percent of all extended mass layoff events, the lowest proportion in program 

history. Excluding seasonal and vacation-period layoffs (in 

which a recall was expected 94 percent of the time), a recall 

was expected in a program low 21 percent of events, down 

from 24 percent in 2008. (See table 27.)

• Of those establishments expecting a recall in 2009, a program low 34 percent indicated that all workers would eventually be recall, compared with 39 percent in 2008. Seventy-three percent, also a program low, expected to recall at 

least half of the workers in 2009, a decrease from 80 percent 

in 2008. (See table 27.) 
5

• In 2009, industry sectors where the expectation of recall 

was highest following a layoff included: arts, entertainment, 

and recreation (a program low 65 percent for this industry); 

health care and social assistance (63 percent); and construction (56 percent). Layoffs in the finance and insurance and 

information sectors had the lowest percentages of recall expectation, at 1 percent and 4 percent (a program low for the 

information industry), respectively. (See table 28.)

• Employers citing organizational changes (4 percent) and 

financial issues (7 percent) had the lowest percentages of 

recall expectation. Layoffs due to seasonal reasons registered the highest recall expectations (94 percent), followed 

by layoffs due to disaster/safety reasons (68 percent). (See 

table 28.) 

• Manufacturing industries accounted for 40 percent of 

events and 37 percent of separations from which the employer did not expect a recall. Administrative and waste services accounted for the second-highest percentage of separations (14 percent) where no recall was expected. Retail 

trade, construction, and administrative and waste services 

accounted for the second-highest percentage of events (9 

percent each). (See table 29.)

• A lack of business demand, particularly from slack work 

and contract completion, was cited most frequently for layoffs from which no recall is expected, accounting for 61 

percent of such layoff events and 56 percent of separations. 

Layoffs due to financial issues accounted for an additional 

22 percent of layoffs events with no expectation of recall 

and 26 percent of separations. (See table 29.)

Permanent worksite closures

• Employers reported that 9 percent of private nonfarm extended mass layoff events in 2009 resulted from a permanent closure of the worksite, affecting 237,821 workers, or 

11 percent of separations. Separations in permanent closures 

were due mostly to financial issues (109,747), followed by 

business demand reasons (74,058) and organizational reasons (41,430). (See table 30.)

• Manufacturing accounted for 44 percent of layoff events 

and 38 percent of separations resulting in a worksite closure. Retail trade accounted for 19 percent of the layoff 

events and 28 percent of separations resulting from closures 

during the year. (See table 31.) 

• In 2009, wood product manufacturing, machinery manufacturing, computer and electronic product manufacturing, 

electronics and appliance stores, and clothing and clothing 

accessories stores moved into the top 10 three-digit NAICS 

industries in terms of the number of workers laid off because 

of permanent closures. These industries replaced: plastics 

and rubber products manufacturing; furniture and home 

furnishings stores; food and beverage stores; hospitals; and 

food services and drinking places. (See table 32.)

• California registered the highest number of separations 

in permanent-closure-related layoff events (46,854), followed by Florida (19,830), Illinois (13,295), Pennsylvania (12,887), and Ohio (11,203). Between 2008 and 2009, 

the largest increases in separations due to closures were 

reported by Pennsylvania (+11,525), Wisconsin (+5,471), 

California (+5,020), and Washington (+4,108), while Ohio 

and Florida had the largest decreases (-11,448 and -7,241, 

respectively). (See table 33.) Four States reached new series highs in terms of closure-related separated workers in 

2009—Delaware, Georgia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

• Among the 372 metropolitan areas, Los Angeles-Long 

Beach-Santa-Ana, CA, reported the highest number of 

resident initial claimants in permanent-closure-related extended mass layoff events (12,313), followed by New YorkNorthern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, (8,799). 

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL, and Sacramento-ArdenArcade-Roseville, CA, entered the top 10 metropolitan 

areas this year in terms of the numbers of resident initial 

claimants due to permanent closures, replacing Dalton, 

GA, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA. (See table 

34.)

Business functions and business processes

• The total number of business functions reported by employers in nonseasonal layoff events in 2009 was 18,865–an 

increase of 55 percent from 12,177 business functions a 

year earlier. (See the technical note for more information 

on business function information.) Just as in 2008, producing goods and construction activities were cited most often 

by employers in 2009 as the main business function–that 

which involves the most laid-off workers. Secondary functions most often reported by employers for layoff were administrative and clerical support, first-line supervision, and 

human resources, including recruiting. (See table 35.)

• Business processes affected by extended mass layoffs during 2009 numbered 14,823–up 42 percent from 10,432 a 

year earlier. Over the year, the number of reports increased 

for all five core processes with the largest percentage increase occurring in product development. All three support 

processes involved in layoffs also increased, with technology and process development having the largest percentage 

increase. (See table 36.)

• Among business processes affected by mass layoff events, 

the most common in 2009 was operations–the process most 

directly related to the key activity of the establishment. The 

next most frequently cited business processes were general management and firm infrastructure and procurement, 

logistics, and distribution. Core processes among goodsproducing industries increased by 45 percent, less than the 

58-percent increase registered in service-providing industries. Conversely, support processes increased by 59 percent 

in goods-producing industries, compared with a 44-percent 

increase in service-producing industries. (See table 37.)
6

 

 

 2001

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,546 304,171 306,535

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,828 430,499 358,611

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,629 330,391 336,298

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 2,372 459,771 456,068

 Total ..................................................................................................... 7,375 1,524,832 1,457,512

 2002

First quarter ........................................................................................................... 1,611 299,266 292,998

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,624 344,606 299,598

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,186 255,152 254,955

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,916 373,307 370,592

 Total ..................................................................................................... 6,337 1,272,331 1,218,143

 2003

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,502 286,947 297,608

Second quarter...................................................................................................... 1,799 368,273 348,966

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,190 236,333 227,909

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,690 325,333 326,328

 Total .................................................................................................................. 6,181 1,216,886 1,200,811

 2004

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,339 276,503 238,392

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,358 278,831 254,063

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 886 164,608 148,575

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,427 273,967 262,049

 Total .................................................................................................................. 5,010 993,909 903,079

 2005

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,142 186,506 185,486

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,203 246,099 212,673

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,136 201,878 190,186

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,400 250,178 246,188

 Total .................................................................................................................. 4,881 884,661 834,533

 2006

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 963 183,089 193,510

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,353 295,964 264,927

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 929 160,254 161,764

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,640 296,662 330,954

 Total .................................................................................................................. 4,885 935,969 951,155

 2007

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,110 225,600 199,250

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,421 278,719 259,234

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,018 160,024 173,077

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 1,814 301,592 347,151

 Total .................................................................................................................. 5,363 965,935 978,712

 2008

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 1,340 230,098 259,292

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 1,756 354,713 339,630

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 1,581 290,453 304,340

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 3,582 641,714 766,780

 Total .................................................................................................................. 8,259 1,516,978 1,670,042

 2009

First quarter .......................................................................................................... 3,979 705,141 835,551

Second quarter ..................................................................................................... 3,395 651,318 731,035

Third quarter ......................................................................................................... 2,034 345,529 406,715

Fourth quarter ....................................................................................................... 2,419 406,815 466,539

 Total .................................................................................................................. 11,827 2,108,803 2,439,840

Table 1. Numbers of extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, private nonfarm 

sector, 2001–09

1

 Data on layoffs were reported by employers in all States and the District of Columbia.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

Year/quarter Events1 Separations1

Initial

claimants for

unemployment

insurance1
7

Table 2. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

Initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

Total, private nonfarm1 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,363 8,259 11,827 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803 978,712 1,670,042 2,439,840

 Mining ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 39 55 196 5,381 9,128 31,825 4,794 9,757 31,188

 Utilities ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 11 21 1,182 2,032 3,647 1,548 2,122 4,264

 Construction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1,365 1,724 2,021 155,401 205,457 245,770 192,462 256,363 312,787

 Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1,366 2,586 3,835 241,319 483,984 668,279 309,670 639,691 893,502

 Food ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 221 280 321 43,560 63,964 65,103 46,149 58,046 70,605

 Beverage and tobacco products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 19 25 34 2,341 3,618 5,281 2,772 4,386 7,185

 Textile mills ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 39 49 59 7,707 9,487 7,936 13,711 23,259 18,631

 Textile product mills ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 24 20 2,609 3,320 2,890 3,840 4,052 4,145

 Apparel ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 49 48 83 6,244 6,117 13,664 6,406 7,305 12,487

 Leather and allied products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 6 6 477 678 806 645 657 777

 Wood products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 102 215 187 13,985 30,973 21,967 16,578 39,003 29,690

 Paper ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 60 99 3,675 9,958 12,206 3,701 10,168 13,041

 Printing and related support activities ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................37 43 96 5,798 5,603 13,112 5,003 6,761 15,303

 Petroleum and coal products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 24 33 3,175 3,228 4,456 3,264 3,315 4,703

 Chemicals ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 36 67 93 6,279 9,457 12,012 5,078 9,379 12,434

 Plastics and rubber products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 56 147 180 8,725 19,919 20,988 7,076 23,718 26,172

 Nonmetallic mineral products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 98 177 205 12,107 24,333 23,798 14,685 27,258 28,443

 Primary metal ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 41 116 270 6,374 19,635 42,366 8,664 24,688 54,849

 Fabricated metal products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 74 203 356 9,944 24,845 44,286 11,786 35,606 57,402

 Machinery ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 76 147 378 14,230 27,608 68,018 18,349 40,199 107,817

 Computer and electronic products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 84 159 329 14,619 26,471 51,940 13,109 27,126 60,078

 Electrical equipment and appliance ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 33 74 141 5,375 14,519 20,606 11,185 19,039 26,427

 Transportation equipment ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 226 574 711 59,914 156,002 204,909 104,271 245,404 301,252

 Furniture and related products ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 79 103 143 9,979 17,583 20,453 10,139 23,062 30,148

 Miscellaneous manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 27 45 91 4,202 6,666 11,482 3,259 7,260 11,913

 Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 98 190 339 12,931 25,257 46,431 12,106 25,089 47,220

 Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 288 482 768 119,571 121,551 176,134 72,482 129,146 188,626

 Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 334 489 655 70,916 102,242 131,781 72,684 98,541 130,674

 Information ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 93 204 315 13,387 38,048 54,191 16,804 39,329 73,317

 Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 373 405 479 66,085 92,783 98,629 67,718 86,072 101,746

 Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 28 51 95 3,841 6,385 12,538 3,792 7,540 13,364

 Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 171 257 448 49,224 67,400 87,501 38,075 51,115 81,193

 Management of companies and enterprises .......................................................................................................................................................................................................28 30 54 4,085 4,611 9,098 3,412 4,802 11,578

 Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 345 671 1,083 55,806 140,972 246,258 60,473 150,952 279,691

 Educational services ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 27 43 77 3,505 5,504 10,915 3,814 5,623 11,368

 Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 260 319 393 40,364 44,230 53,861 30,571 36,250 51,006

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 139 178 254 45,208 52,142 57,874 17,109 21,996 39,232

 Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 303 458 644 63,814 101,642 154,146 58,922 91,979 149,143

 Other services, except public administration .......................................................................................................................................................................................................93 102 148 13,069 12,769 19,660 11,689 13,178 19,676

 Unclassified ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 4 2 846 841 265 587 497 265

Selected industry groupings2

Clothing manufacturing and distribution .............................................................................................. 180 244 403 36,370 69,329 87,395 50,384 97,486 112,594

Food processing and distribution ...................................................................................................... 525 672 816 157,868 152,387 185,872 109,441 132,620 187,663

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 See the technical note for descriptions of these industry groupings.

Industry

Layoff events Separations

Table 2. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 See the technical note for descriptions of these industry groupings. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
8

Table 3. Over-the-year change in extended mass layoff separations by industry, private nonfarm sector, 2007–08 and 2008–09 

Table 3. Over-the-year change in extended mass layoff separations by industry, private nonfarm sector,

2007–08 and 2008–09

Level change Percent change Level change Percent change

Total, private nonfarm1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 551,043 57.0 591,825 39.0

 Mining .................................................................................................. 3,747 69.6 22,697 248.7

 Utilities ................................................................................................... 850 71.9 1,615 79.5

 Construction ..................................................................................... 50,056 32.2 40,313 19.6

 Manufacturing .................................................................................. 242,665 100.6 184,295 38.1

 Food .............................................................................................. 20,404 46.8 1,139 1.8

 Beverage and tobacco products .............................................. 1,277 54.5 1,663 46.0

 Textile mills ...................................................................................1,780 23.1 -1,551 -16.3

 Textile product mills ................................................................................... 711 27.3 -430 -13.0

 Apparel ........................................................................................... -127 -2.0 7,547 123.4

 Leather and allied products ...................................................... 201 42.1 128 18.9

 Wood products ............................................................................. 16,988 121.5 -9,006 -29.1

 Paper .............................................................................................. 6,283 171.0 2,248 22.6

 Printing and related support activities .............................. -195 -3.4 7,509 134.0

 Petroleum and coal products .............................................. 53 1.7 1,228 38.0

 Chemicals .................................................................................... 3,178 50.6 2,555 27.0

 Plastics and rubber products ................................................ 11,194 128.3 1,069 5.4

 Nonmetallic mineral products ................................................ 12,226 101.0 -535 -2.2

 Primary metal .............................................................................. 13,261 208.0 22,731 115.8

 Fabricated metal products ...................................................... 14,901 149.8 19,441 78.2

 Machinery .................................................................................... 13,378 94.0 40,410 146.4

 Computer and electronic products ...................................... 11,852 81.1 25,469 96.2

 Electrical equipment and appliance ................................... 9,144 170.1 6,087 41.9

 Transportation equipment .................................................... 96,088 160.4 48,907 31.4

 Furniture and related products .............................................. 7,604 76.2 2,870 16.3

 Miscellaneous manufacturing ............................................. 2,464 58.6 4,816 72.2

 Wholesale trade ............................................................................... 12,326 95.3 21,174 83.8

 Retail trade ........................................................................................ 1,980 1.7 54,583 44.9

 Transportation and warehousing .............................................. 31,326 44.2 29,539 28.9

 Information ......................................................................................... 24,661 184.2 16,143 42.4

 Finance and insurance ..................................................................26,698 40.4 5,846 6.3

 Real estate and rental and leasing ...................................................2,544 66.2 6,153 96.4

 Professional and technical services ...................................... 18,176 36.9 20,101 29.8

 Management of companies and enterprises ...................... 526 12.9 4,487 97.3

 Administrative and waste services .......................................... 85,166 152.6 105,286 74.7

 Educational services ..................................................................... 1,999 57.0 5,411 98.3

 Health care and social assistance ........................................... 3,866 9.6 9,631 21.8

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation .......................................... 6,934 15.3 5,732 11.0

 Accommodation and food services ...................................... 37,828 59.3 52,504 51.7

 Other services, except public administration ....................... -300 -2.3 6,891 54.0

 Unclassified .............................................................................................................. -5 -.6 -576 -68.5

Selected industry groupings2

Clothing manufacturing and distribution .............................................................................................. 32,959 90.6 18,066 26.1

Food processing and distribution ...................................................................................................... -5,481 -3.5 33,485 22.0

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 See the technical note for descriptions of these industry groupings.

 3 Percentage could not be calculated because the denominator is zero.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Industry

2007–08 2008–09

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

2

 See the technical note for descriptions of these industry groupings.

3

 Percentage could not be calculated because the denominator is zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
9

Table 4. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff events and separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest 

three-digit NAICS industries, 2008–09

Events Separations Rank1 Events Separations Rank1

 Total, private nonfarm2 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 8,259 1,516,978 ... 11,827 2,108,803 ...

Total, 50 highest industries ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 7,713 1,444,604 ... 10,943 1,985,803 ...

Administrative and support services ................................................ 561 661 140,111 2 1,062 244,402 1

Transportation equipment manufacturing ............................................ 336 574 156,002 1 711 204,909 2

Specialty trade contractors................................................................... 238 795 84,017 3 1,002 110,662 3

Food services and drinking places ........................................................ 722 287 67,543 5 334 95,233 4

Heavy and civil engineering construction ................................................... 237 630 83,230 4 677 91,305 5

Professional and technical services ......................................................... 541 257 67,400 6 448 87,501 6

Machinery manufacturing ........................................................................ 333 147 27,608 15 378 68,018 7

Food manufacturing .............................................................................. 311 280 63,964 7 321 65,103 8

Transit and ground passenger transportation ............................................ 485 221 45,924 9 259 65,005 9

Credit intermediation and related activities ................................................ 522 256 63,166 8 263 60,578 10

Accommodation ................................................................................... 721 171 34,099 13 310 58,913 11

General merchandise stores ................................................................... 452 119 44,496 10 184 57,943 12

Computer and electronic product manufacturing ........................................ 334 159 26,471 16 329 51,940 13

Fabricated metal product manufacturing ................................................... 332 203 24,845 18 356 44,286 14

Construction of buildings .......................................................................... 236 299 38,210 11 342 43,803 15

Primary metal manufacturing .................................................................... 331 116 19,635 21 270 42,366 16

Amusements, gambling, and recreation ............................................... 713 90 37,756 12 133 40,530 17

Social assistance ........................................................ 624 218 25,897 17 264 32,053 18

Electronics and appliance stores ................................... 443 22 8,036 44 67 29,174 19

Merchant wholesalers, durable goods ............................ 423 106 12,858 30 200 27,995 20

Insurance carriers and related activities ...........................524 93 16,872 23 137 24,453 21

Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing ...................... 327 177 24,333 19 205 23,798 22

Truck transportation ..................................................... 484 103 14,585 26 164 22,532 23

Wood product manufacturing .......................................... 321 215 30,973 14 187 21,967 24

Plastics and rubber products manufacturing ...................... 326 147 19,919 20 180 20,988 25

Electrical equipment and appliance mfg. ............................. 335 74 14,519 27 141 20,606 26

Furniture and related product manufacturing ........................ 337 103 17,583 22 143 20,453 27

Clothing and clothing accessories stores ........................... 448 49 13,091 29 118 17,898 28

Support activities for mining ............................................ 213 17 3,708 55 104 17,895 29

Publishing industries, except Internet ................................ 511 83 10,717 37 118 17,507 30

Telecommunications ......................................................... 517 65 10,836 36 96 17,452 31

Performing arts and spectator sports .................................................. 711 82 13,524 28 111 15,936 32

Couriers and messengers ............................................... 492 36 15,232 24 46 15,409 33

Food and beverage stores ........................................... 445 39 11,358 35 78 14,743 34

Nonstore retailers ........................................................... 454 60 15,074 25 64 14,250 35

Hospitals ................................................................... 622 47 12,811 31 71 14,131 36

Apparel manufacturing .................................................... 315 48 6,117 49 83 13,664 37

Mining, except oil and gas .............................................. 212 36 5,127 52 87 13,165 38

Printing and related support activities ................................... 323 43 5,603 50 96 13,112 39

Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods ................................. 424 66 10,143 38 103 13,015 40

Securities, commodity contracts, investments ......................................... 523 52 12,374 33 72 12,770 41

Paper manufacturing .......................................................... 322 60 9,958 39 99 12,206 42

Building material and garden supply stores .................................. 444 49 8,644 42 69 12,202 43

Chemical manufacturing ....................................................... 325 67 9,457 41 93 12,012 44

Miscellaneous manufacturing ............................................ 339 45 6,666 46 91 11,482 45

Motion picture and sound recording industries ........................... 512 27 12,246 34 48 11,444 46

Educational services .......................................................................... 611 43 5,504 51 77 10,915 47

Air transportation ........................................................... 481 43 12,607 32 49 10,450 48

Management of companies and enterprises ............................... 551 30 4,611 54 54 9,098 49

Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores .......................... 451 17 1,844 69 49 8,531 50

 1 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

Industry NAICS

2008 2009

1

 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Table 4. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff events and separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest three-digit NAICS industries, 2008–09

 
10

Table 5. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest six-digit NAICS

 industries, 2007–09

Separations Rank1 Separations Rank1 Separations Rank1

 Total, private nonfarm2 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 965,935 ... 1,516,978 ... 2,108,803 ...

 Total, 50 highest industries ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 577,111 ... 817,364 ... 1,107,427 ...

Temporary help services ..........................................................................\ 561320 19,972 7 53,117 1 114,884 1

Professional employer organizations ........................................................ 561330 6,552 27 41,588 3 71,552 2

Food service contractors ................................................................. 722310 32,238 4 38,990 6 62,892 3

School and employee bus transportation .................................................... 485410 47,560 3 41,427 4 58,057 4

Automobile manufacturing ..................................................................... 336111 16,998 10 40,728 5 52,395 5

Highway, street, and bridge construction ................................................... 237310 47,686 2 50,788 2 50,359 6

Hotels and motels, except casino hotels ................................................... 721110 17,061 8 20,943 10 38,589 7

Light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing .................................................... 336112 5,852 28 17,206 15 34,365 8

Tax preparation services ......................................................................... 541213 24,703 5 32,613 7 29,724 9

Commercial banking ................................................................................ 522110 7,821 20 13,480 19 27,247 10

Radio, TV, and other electronics stores ...................................................... 443112 2,217 92 6,744 52 27,232 11

Discount department stores ..................................................................... 452112 10,870 14 21,142 9 24,302 12

Department stores, except discount .......................................................... 452111 6,751 26 20,059 12 24,151 13

Commercial building construction ............................................................ 236220 9,470 16 16,928 16 22,547 14

Nonresidential electrical contractors ........................................................... 238212 9,341 17 14,249 18 21,924 15

Child day care services .......................................................................... 624410 17,059 9 17,301 14 20,031 16

Amusement and theme parks .................................................................. 713110 16,261 12 12,009 27 19,481 17

Casino hotels ........................................................................................ 721120 3,441 60 12,957 22 19,424 18

Iron and steel mills .................................................................................. 331111 790 200 7,513 43 17,526 19

Fruit and vegetable canning ......................................................................... 311421 10,851 15 18,473 13 16,855 20

Oil and gas pipeline construction ............................................................... 237120 4,961 35 12,859 23 16,308 21

Industrial building construction ................................................................... 236210 7,451 23 12,765 24 16,204 22

Aircraft manufacturing .............................................................................. 336411 776 203 4,361 82 15,264 23

Couriers and express delivery services ....................................................... 492110 3,977 47 15,232 17 15,237 24

Semiconductors and related device mfg. ................................................... 334413 3,880 50 7,840 40 14,822 25

Nonresidential plumbing and HVAC contractors ......................................... 238222 6,981 24 10,197 31 14,772 26

General medical and surgical hospitals .................................................... 622110 8,154 18 12,535 25 13,913 27

Telemarketing and other contact centers ................................................... 561422 3,189 65 8,837 37 13,770 28

Supermarkets and other grocery stores ................................................... 445110 61,988 1 9,648 33 13,227 29

Construction machinery manufacturing ........................................................ 333120 ( 3

 ) 578 1,856 151 12,751 30

Nonresidential drywall contractors .............................................................. 238312 4,373 43 9,123 34 12,564 31

All other motor vehicle parts manufacturing ................................................... 336399 4,253 44 13,271 20 12,180 32

Skiing facilities ........................................................................................ 713920 16,481 11 20,706 11 12,035 33

Mail-order houses ................................................................................... 454113 12,058 13 12,040 26 12,017 34

Savings institutions ............................................................................... 522120 4,613 40 8,266 38 11,242 35

Wired telecommunications carriers ........................................................... 517110 1,963 106 7,112 46 11,170 36

Power and communication system construction .......................................... 237130 5,427 33 6,673 53 11,139 37

Family clothing stores .......................................................................... 448140 2,377 85 4,962 70 11,025 38

Motion picture and video production .......................................................... 512110 3,208 63 8,866 36 10,626 39

Full-service restaurants .......................................................................... 722110 4,847 37 13,133 21 10,597 40

Support activities for oil and gas operations ................................................. 213112 – – 1,962 145 10,446 41

Home centers ........................................................................................ 444110 2,812 72 7,088 48 9,840 42

Payroll services ...................................................................................... 541214 3,999 46 6,569 54 9,678 43

All other plastics product manufacturing ................................................... 326199 3,917 48 10,613 29 9,480 44

Scheduled passenger air transportation .................................................... 481111 446 297 10,703 28 9,224 45

Motor vehicle seating and interior trim mfg. ................................................. 336360 5,802 30 7,230 45 8,942 46

Newspaper publishers .......................................................................... 511110 798 198 6,194 58 8,904 47

Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars ................................................... 722213 ( 3

 ) 496 5,956 61 8,880 48

Fresh and frozen seafood processing ........................................................ 311712 7,831 19 7,659 42 8,820 49

Motor vehicle power train components mfg. .................................................. 336350 2,016 104 5,296 67 8,813 50

 1 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

2009

Industry NAICS

2007 2008

Table 5. Industry distribution: extended mass layoff separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest six-digit NAICS industries, 2007–09 

 

1

 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009. 

2 See footnote 1, table 1. 

3

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
11

Table 6. Reason for layoff: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance,

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

Initial claimants for unemployment insurance

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm, all reasons1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,363 8,259 11,827 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803 978,712 1,670,042 2,439,840

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,888 3,388 5,404 248,056 516,919 825,083 359,654 733,238 1,140,737

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 73 141 250 11,165 24,261 39,104 10,740 25,776 46,701

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 897 946 1,210 107,461 133,905 212,535 144,752 177,084 273,370

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 7 12 1,769 1,416 1,200 1,512 2,191 1,615

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 38 40 84 7,424 8,111 15,942 8,521 7,835 32,853

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 73 54 22 11,589 9,679 3,192 15,519 10,467 3,002

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 792 2,200 3,826 108,648 339,547 553,110 178,610 509,885 783,196

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 397 517 573 124,175 123,355 120,233 73,922 120,199 136,415

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 101 93 113 72,914 45,375 34,875 16,201 18,190 21,097

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 296 424 460 51,261 77,980 85,358 57,721 102,009 115,318

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 455 763 1,075 101,556 165,426 228,737 92,659 148,912 244,644

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 65 136 178 17,377 40,553 69,323 9,237 24,813 55,642

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 176 352 615 34,443 53,781 92,666 41,312 64,731 133,378

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 214 275 282 49,736 71,092 66,748 42,110 59,368 55,624

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 84 107 62 19,686 27,181 12,866 23,552 25,519 10,876

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 12 5 1,851 1,703 744 1,781 2,059 956

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 10 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,308 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 4,847 ( 2 )

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14 21 15 2,637 5,505 4,854 1,670 2,480 3,227

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18 19 7 4,927 9,134 1,584 7,041 6,205 1,138

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 15 ( 2 ) 1,163 3,446 ( 2 ) 1,520 3,940 ( 2 )

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 3 5 ( 2 ) 617 1,195 ( 2 ) 933 1,065

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 16 8 3,141 3,351 1,201 2,482 2,830 1,239

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 11 16 1,237 2,117 2,595 1,419 2,225 2,312

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 58 19 3,388 9,165 3,985 3,010 8,442 2,431

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 545 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 484

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) ( 2 ) –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5 4 6 476 1,098 697 440 813 739

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22 51 10 2,068 7,694 2,743 2,046 7,275 1,208

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,880 1,982 2,211 364,276 393,125 409,787 318,866 348,851 394,620

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,479 1,589 1,714 290,527 326,608 318,119 245,509 280,600 306,526

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 401 393 497 73,749 66,517 91,668 73,357 68,251 88,094

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 627 1,444 2,483 104,798 281,807 508,112 107,049 284,881 510,117

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41 89 126 6,684 14,828 19,537 7,959 19,120 21,560

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 205 299 558 38,088 79,208 142,104 38,035 78,537 142,023

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 381 1,056 1,799 60,026 187,771 346,471 61,055 187,224 346,534

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Reason for layoff1

Layoff events Separations

Table 6. Reason for layoff: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

Initial claimants for unemployment insurance

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
12

Table 7. Over-the-year change in separations by reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2007–08 and 2008–09

Level change Percent change Level change Percent change

 Total, private nonfarm, all reasons1 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 551,043 57.0 591,825 39.0 

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 268,863 108.4 308,164 59.6 

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13,096 117.3 14,843 61.2 

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26,444 24.6 78,630 58.7 

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... -353 -20.0 -216 -15.3 

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 687 9.3 7,831 96.5 

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... -1,910 -16.5 -6,487 -67.0 

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 230,899 212.5 213,563 62.9 

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... -820 -0.7 -3,122 -2.5 

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... -27,539 -37.8 -10,500 -23.1 

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26,719 52.1 7,378 9.5 

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63,870 62.9 63,311 38.3 

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23,176 133.4 28,770 70.9 

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19,338 56.1 38,885 72.3 

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21,356 42.9 -4,344 -6.1 

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7,495 38.1 -14,315 -52.7 

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... -148 -8.0 -959 -56.3 

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 )

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,868 108.8 -651 -11.8 

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4,207 85.4 -7,550 -82.7 

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,283 196.3 ( 2 ) ( 2 )

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 578 93.7 

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 210 6.7 -2,150 -64.2 

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 880 71.1 478 22.6 

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,777 170.5 -5,180 -56.5 

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 )

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 )

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 622 130.7 -401 -36.5 

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,626 272.1 -4,951 -64.3 

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28,849 7.9 16,662 4.2 

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 36,081 12.4 -8,489 -2.6 

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... -7,232 -9.8 25,151 37.8 

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 177,009 168.9 226,305 80.3 

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8,144 121.8 4,709 31.8 

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41,120 108.0 62,896 79.4 

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 127,745 212.8 158,700 84.5 

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Reason for layoff

2007–08 2008–09

Table 7. Over-the-year change in separations by reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2007–08 and 2008–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
13

Table 8. Number of separations in extended mass layoff events by State and by selected higher level category for layoff,1 

private nonfarm sector, 2009

Total Business 

demand

Organizational 

changes

Financial 

issues 

Production 

specific Disaster/safety Seasonal

 Total, private nonfarm2

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,108,803 825,083 120,233 228,737 12,866 3,985 409,787

Alabama .................................................................................. 22,102 3,859 ( 3

 ) 5,995 – – 1,439

Alaska .................................................................................. 16,707 1,898 – 736 – – 13,170

Arizona .................................................................................. 21,402 5,469 2,251 894 ( 3

 ) – 4,307

Arkansas .................................................................................. 9,397 4,303 ( 3

 ) 685 – – 771

California .................................................................................. 497,190 133,966 34,603 55,181 2,229 – 46,033

Colorado .................................................................................. 24,057 11,286 – 1,382 ( 3

 ) – 8,731

Connecticut .................................................................................. 15,148 3,232 937 847 – – 3,500

Delaware .................................................................................. 4,728 1,533 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) – 953

District of Columbia .................................................................................. 1,464 464 – ( 3

 ) – – 760

Florida .................................................................................. 138,840 106,420 7,548 5,199 1,373 ( 3

 ) 13,361

Georgia .................................................................................. 20,536 14,112 384 5,206 ( 3

 ) – –

Hawaii .................................................................................. 3,811 1,378 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) – ( 3 )

Idaho .................................................................................. 8,337 3,083 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) – 2,887

Illinois .................................................................................. 140,451 70,154 11,636 12,737 357 – 38,766

Indiana .................................................................................. 39,600 23,624 1,641 3,855 619 – 9,711

Iowa .................................................................................. 10,473 7,696 ( 3

 ) 1,115 – – 1,482

Kansas .................................................................................. 19,818 9,590 1,018 1,078 – 498 1,243

Kentucky .................................................................................. 35,464 9,450 1,473 2,546 975 2,045 4,608

Louisiana .................................................................................. 23,288 9,851 710 2,972 ( 3

 ) – 4,453

Maine .................................................................................. 7,826 2,165 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) – – 4,358

Maryland .................................................................................. 9,969 1,425 861 715 269 – 1,702

Massachusetts .................................................................................. 19,669 1,792 1,540 9,477 310 ( 3

 ) 6,349

Michigan .................................................................................. 89,727 49,592 10,477 3,264 ( 3

 ) – 13,615

Minnesota .................................................................................. 39,799 19,250 ( 3

 ) 3,840 – – 15,588

Mississippi .................................................................................. 6,865 4,202 – 2,437 ( 3

 ) – –

Missouri .................................................................................. 45,179 14,679 1,336 875 ( 3

 ) – 14,630

Montana .................................................................................. 4,971 1,475 – ( 3

 ) – – 2,906

Nebraska .................................................................................. 4,168 718 991 1,128 – – 1,331

Nevada .................................................................................. 33,851 25,038 513 6,043 – – 1,848

New Hampshire .................................................................................. 3,994 1,281 – 1,003 – – 1,710

New Jersey .................................................................................. 67,947 14,034 2,599 11,853 ( 3

 ) – 33,763

New Mexico .................................................................................. 10,991 4,547 369 1,024 – – 2,689

New York .................................................................................. 125,569 30,455 5,432 7,147 941 ( 3

 ) 39,056

North Carolina .................................................................................. 33,602 10,490 2,307 9,348 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 949

North Dakota .................................................................................. 4,659 3,348 – – ( 3

 ) – 1,201

Ohio .................................................................................. 114,879 68,168 3,189 21,538 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 20,016

Oklahoma .................................................................................. 12,162 9,494 – 1,452 – ( 3

 ) –

Oregon .................................................................................. 33,750 10,162 1,173 2,470 ( 3

 ) – 12,824

Pennsylvania .................................................................................. 117,345 27,670 3,603 15,172 – ( 3

 ) 25,499

Rhode Island .................................................................................. 2,969 1,036 352 806 – – 460

South Carolina .................................................................................. 19,807 4,186 258 886 – ( 3

 ) 961

South Dakota .................................................................................. 949 371 – ( 3

 ) – – ( 3 )

Tennessee .................................................................................. 27,494 10,563 592 1,014 ( 3

 ) – 4,744

Texas .................................................................................. 63,598 27,470 5,891 15,071 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 2,513

Utah .................................................................................. 9,980 5,570 – 1,350 – – 2,671

Vermont .................................................................................. 5,725 2,143 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) – – 2,977

Virginia .................................................................................. 17,862 6,068 929 2,192 ( 3

 ) – 4,682

Washington .................................................................................. 40,171 18,332 3,429 3,966 279 – 6,641

West Virginia .................................................................................. 9,167 4,010 ( 3

 ) 609 – – ( 3 )

Wisconsin .................................................................................. 66,195 23,160 5,070 1,634 ( 3

 ) – 22,211

Wyoming .................................................................................. 5,151 821 – – – – 4,330

Puerto Rico .................................................................................. 5,635 3,160 ( 3

 ) 1,355 391 – ( 3 )

 1 The higher level category "other/miscellaneous" is not displayed. 3

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

State

Separations

Table 8. Number of separations in extended mass layoff events by State and by selected higher level category for layoff,1 

private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 The higher level category "other/miscellaneous" is not displayed.

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

3

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

 

 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

 
14

Table 9. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations, 

and initial claimants for unemployment insurance by major industry, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Total, private nonfarm1

..................................................................................................................................................................... 351 9,265 61,694 1,637,322 58,689 1,986,531

 Mining .................................................................................................. 6 164 1,077 27,418 813 26,500

 Utilities ................................................................................................... – 16 – 2,982 – 3,452

 Construction ..................................................................................... ( 2 ) 1,471 ( 2 ) 180,375 ( 2 ) 232,841

 Manufacturing .................................................................................. 224 3,319 38,171 577,764 36,833 795,222

 Food ................................................................................................. 16 142 3,014 27,031 2,680 31,722

 Beverage and tobacco products .............................................. ( 2 ) 22 ( 2 ) 3,774 ( 2 ) 4,118

 Textile mills ............................................................................................. 3 55 198 7,688 289 18,251

 Textile product mills ................................................................................... 4 16 780 2,110 727 3,418

 Apparel ........................................................................................... 7 69 1,316 11,776 1,293 10,614

 Leather and allied products ...................................................... ( 2 ) 4 ( 2 ) 605 ( 2 ) 539

 Wood products ............................................................................. 3 182 577 21,268 499 28,864

 Paper ............................................................................................... 8 85 809 10,744 945 11,344

 Printing and related support activities ................................. 7 77 992 10,214 1,042 11,268

 Petroleum and coal products ..................................................... ( 2 ) 13 ( 2 ) 1,799 ( 2 ) 1,636

 Chemicals ........................................................................................ 8 82 1,586 10,176 860 11,175

 Plastics and rubber products ................................................ 12 167 1,523 19,355 1,338 24,663

 Nonmetallic mineral products ................................................ ( 2 ) 167 ( 2 ) 18,666 ( 2 ) 21,352

 Primary metal .............................................................................. 12 258 1,553 40,813 1,375 53,474

 Fabricated metal products ...................................................... 19 330 2,433 41,057 1,906 54,160

 Machinery .................................................................................... .... 17 351 3,116 63,130 3,497 101,063

 Computer and electronic products ...................................... 40 288 6,904 44,906 5,989 53,868

 Electrical equipment and appliance .........................................11 129 2,155 18,253 1,886 24,295

 Transportation equipment ....................................................... 31 676 6,786 197,440 8,158 292,083

 Furniture and related products .............................................. 10 131 1,594 18,720 1,599 28,372

 Miscellaneous manufacturing ....................................................10 75 2,029 8,239 1,952 8,943

 Wholesale trade ............................................................................... 20 293 2,087 40,523 2,013 42,044

 Retail trade ........................................................................................ 17 646 4,435 149,065 4,929 155,270

 Transportation and warehousing .............................................. 13 384 2,151 74,884 2,584 78,806

 Information ......................................................................................... 17 284 2,811 48,068 2,666 64,109

 Finance and insurance ..................................................................13 464 2,809 95,710 1,760 99,855

 Real estate and rental and leasing ................................................... ( 2 ) 88 ( 2 ) 10,676 ( 2 ) 12,518

 Professional and technical services ...................................... 7 374 1,676 56,836 1,086 60,342

 Management of companies and enterprises ...................... 4 40 722 4,902 830 6,817

 Administrative and waste services .......................................... 12 968 1,984 227,937 1,868 261,475

 Educational services .....................................................................( 2 ) 48 ( 2 ) 5,980 ( 2 ) 7,235

 Health care and social assistance ........................................... 4 158 837 26,401 320 24,216

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation .......................................... ( 2 ) 81 ( 2 ) 13,193 ( 2 ) 14,167

 Accommodation and food services ...................................... 4 373 813 81,986 1,789 89,213

 Other services, except public administration ....................... 3 92 306 12,357 436 12,184

 Unclassified .............................................................................................................. – 2 – 265 – 265

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Industry

Layoff events Separations Initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

Table 9. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance by major industry, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 

 
15

Table 10. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations,

and initial claimants for unemployment insurance by reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

 Total, private nonfarm1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 351 9,265 61,694 1,637,322 58,689 1,986,531

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 121 5,283 18,630 806,453 18,303 1,122,434

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 242 1,430 37,674 1,083 45,618

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 1,208 ( 2 ) 212,373 ( 2 ) 273,263

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5 7 583 617 538 1,077

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 81 ( 2 ) 15,320 ( 2 ) 32,225

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 7 1,952 1,240 2,005 997

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 88 3,738 13,881 539,229 13,942 769,254

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 130 443 21,414 98,819 20,619 115,796

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 100 2,888 31,987 2,125 18,972

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 117 343 18,526 66,832 18,494 96,824

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 80 995 18,071 210,666 16,376 228,268

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 171 1,812 67,511 869 54,773

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60 555 12,049 80,617 11,618 121,760

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 269 4,210 62,538 3,889 51,735

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9 53 1,135 11,731 1,502 9,374

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 4 ( 2 ) 644 ( 2 ) 840

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 1 – 110 – 110

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 15 – 4,854 – 3,227

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 7 – 1,584 – 1,138

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 5 – 583 – 829

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 5 – 1,195 – 1,065

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 8 – 1,201 – 1,239

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 8 ( 2 ) 1,560 ( 2 ) 926

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 19 – 3,985 – 2,431

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 3 – 545 – 484

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – – – –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 6 – 697 – 739

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 10 – 2,743 – 1,208

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2,472 2,444 505,668 1,889 508,228

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 116 ( 2 ) 17,443 ( 2 ) 19,833

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 558 – 142,104 – 142,023

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 2 ) 1,798 ( 2 ) 346,121 ( 2 ) 346,372

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Reason for layoff

Layoff events Separations

Table 10. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance by reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

( )

( )

2

2 ( )

( )

2

2

( )

( )

2

2
16

Table 11. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial 

claimants for unemployment insurance by Census region and division, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

Work moved Work not moved 

or unknown Work moved Work not moved or unknown Work moved Work not moved or unknown

 United States1 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 351 9,265 61,694 1,637,322 58,689 1,986,531

Northeast ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47 1,465 8,577 239,943 8,092 280,984

 New England ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22 229 4,033 31,944 2,959 35,912

 Middle Atlantic ..................................................................................................................................................................... 25 1,236 4,544 207,999 5,133 245,072

South ..................................................................................................................................................................... 107 2,076 17,625 395,774 17,142 444,518

 South Atlantic ..................................................................................................................................................................... 50 1,186 8,306 223,251 8,672 269,415

 East South Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40 409 5,180 75,954 6,100 78,601

 West South Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 481 4,139 96,569 2,370 96,502

Midwest ..................................................................................................................................................................... 113 2,227 17,684 418,346 17,551 582,098

 East North Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 82 1,700 12,928 333,605 13,313 470,642

 West North Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 31 527 4,756 84,741 4,238 111,456

West ..................................................................................................................................................................... 84 3,497 17,808 583,259 15,904 678,931

 Mountain ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 530 3,646 84,725 1,959 97,042

 Pacific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 72 2,967 14,162 498,534 13,945 581,889

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

Census region and division

Layoff events Separations

1 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The States (and the District of Columbia) that make up the census

divisions are: New England—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New

Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic—New Jersey, New

York, and Pennsylvania; South Atlantic—Delaware, District of Columbia,

Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and

West Virginia; East South Central—Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and

Tennessee; West South Central—Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and

Texas; East North Central—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin;

West North Central—Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North

Dakota, and South Dakota; Mountain—Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,

Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; and Pacific—Alaska, California,

Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

Table 11. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment 

insurance by Census region and division, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The States (and the District of Columbia) that make up the census divisions 

are: New England—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 

and Vermont; Middle Atlantic—New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; South Atlantic—

Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

Virginia, and West Virginia; East South Central—Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and 

Tennessee; West South Central—Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; East North 

Central—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; West North Central—Iowa, 

Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Mountain—

Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; and 

Pacific—Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
17

Table 12. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period unemployment insurance benefit 

exhaustion rates by selected claimant characteristics, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

Work moved

Work not 

moved or 

unknown

 Total, private nonfarm1 .......................................................................................................... 58,689 1,986,531 21,861 498,252 37.2 25.1

Age

Under 30 years of age ............................................. 8,599 398,209 3,005 105,273 34.9 26.4

30–44 ........................................................................................ 18,882 693,914 7,264 172,005 38.5 24.8

45–54 .............................................................................................. 17,873 527,299 6,420 123,980 35.9 23.5

55 years of age or over ..................................................................... 13,033 354,271 5,121 95,840 39.3 27.1

Not available ................................................................................................... 302 12,838 51 1,154 16.9 9.0

Gender

Male ........................................................................................... 31,722 1,307,354 11,213 302,299 35.3 23.1

Female ..................................................................................................................................... 24,660 663,255 9,689 192,392 39.3 29.0

Not available ................................................................................................... 2,307 15,922 959 3,561 41.6 22.4

Race/ethnicity

White ......................................................................................................... 31,331 1,142,747 10,992 261,084 35.1 22.8

Black .................................................................................................... 9,368 270,195 4,052 84,157 43.3 31.1

Hispanic origin ................................................................................. 7,340 323,863 2,694 85,211 36.7 26.3

American Indian or Alaska Native ........................................... 398 14,469 168 3,953 42.2 27.3

Asian or Pacific Islander ............................................................................ 3,374 75,697 1,452 22,207 43.0 29.3

Not available ................................................................................................... 6,878 159,560 2,503 41,640 36.4 26.1

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Characteristic

Initial claims for unemployment 

insurance

Final payments for 

unemployment insurance

Percentage of initial claimants 

receiving final payments

Table 12. Movement of work: nonseasonal and nonvacation period unemployment insurance benefit exhaustion rates by selected 

claimant characteristics, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

Table 13. Extended mass layoff events and separations, selected measures, 2007–09 

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

Total private nonfarm1

............................................................................ 5,363 8,259 11,827 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803

 Total, excluding seasonal and vacation events2

....................................... 3,483 6,277 9,616 601,659 1,123,853 1,699,016

 Total, movement of work3

 ................................................................. 267 332 351 46,459 60,956 61,994

 Movement of work actions ......................................................... 352 443 491 ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 With separations reported ...................................................... 253 319 317 30,179 35,076 32,228

 With separations unknown ..................................................... 99 124 174 ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 1 See footnote 1, table 1. either "seasonal work" or "vacation period." 

 2 The questions on movement of work were not 3 Movement of work can involve more than one action.

asked of employers when the reason for layoff was 4

 Data are not available.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Action

Layoff events Separations

Table 13. Extended mass layoff events and separations, selected measures, 2007–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

2

 The questions on movement of work were not asked of employers when the 

reason for layoff was either “seasonal work” or “vacation period.” 

3

 Movement of work can involve more than one action.

4

 Data are not available.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
18

Table 14. Movement of work actions by type of separation where number of separations 

is known by employers, 2007–09

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

With separations reported2

............................................................................................ 253 319 317 30,179 35,076 32,228

 By location

 Out-of-country relocations ............................................................... 85 95 81 11,856 11,431 10,378

 Within company ............................................................................................ 72 83 72 9,887 10,392 9,630

 Different company ................................................................................. 13 12 9 1,969 1,039 748

 Domestic relocations .................................................................................. 166 223 234 18,073 23,370 21,555

 Within company .............................................................................................. 147 200 206 15,846 20,943 18,184

 Different company ........................................................................................ 19 23 28 2,227 2,427 3,371

 Unable to assign place of relocation ................................................... 2 1 2 250 275 295

 By company

 Within company ................................................................................................. 221 283 280 25,983 31,335 28,109

 Domestic ......................................................................................................... 147 200 206 15,846 20,943 18,184

 Out of country .............................................................................................. 72 83 72 9,887 10,392 9,630

 Unable to assign .............................................................................. 2 – 2 250 – 295

 Different company ........................................................................... 32 36 37 4,196 3,741 4,119

 Domestic ....................................................................................... 19 23 28 2,227 2,427 3,371

 Out of country ................................................................................. 13 12 9 1,969 1,039 748

 Unable to assign .............................................................................. – 1 – – 275 –

 1 Only actions for which separations associated with the movement of work were reported are shown.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Activities

Actions1 Separations

Table 14. Movement of work actions by type of separation where number of separations is known by employers, 2007–09

1

 Only actions for which separations associated with the movement of work were 

reported are shown. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

1

 Due to rounding, sums of individual percentages may not equal 100.0 percent. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 

 

NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 

Table 15. Distribution of extended mass layoff events and separations by size of layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2007–09 

Layoff events Separations 

Number Percent1 Number Percent1 

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm2... 5,363 8,259 11,827 100.0 100.0 100.0 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803 100.0 100.0 100.0

50–99................................... 2,401 3,442 5,141 44.8 41.7 43.5 168,321 244,352 364,801 17.4 16.1 17.3

100–149............................... 1,274 1,952 2,689 23.8 23.6 22.7 149,651 229,536 316,087 15.5 15.1 15.0

150–199............................... 530 887 1,315 9.9 10.7 11.1 88,754 148,852 219,989 9.2 9.8 10.4

200–299............................... . 557 979 1,334 10.4 11.9 11.3 129,305 227,603 311,809 13.4 15.0 14.8

300–499............................... 351 577 782 6.5 7.0 6.6 125,821 211,519 286,340 13.0 13.9 13.6

500–999............................... 167 291 377 3.1 3.5 3.2 110,108 194,373 250,354 11.4 12.8 11.9

1,000 or more ...................... 83 131 189 1.5 1.6 1.6 193,975 260,743 359,423 20.1 17.2 17.0

Number of workers
19

Table 16. Average number of separations in extended mass layoff events by selected measures, private nonfarm sector, 2001–09 

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm 1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 207 201 197 198 181 192 180 184 178

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 215 149 158 153 134 173 138 166 162

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 202 178 135 228 140 154 131 185 174

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 144 140 140 137 127 119 114 119 122

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 192 191 183 173 173 200 177 187 174

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 161 161 181 169 131 166 132 133 137

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 289 329 308 418 237 320 415 252 229

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 297 243 250 213 225 223 212 209 201

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 186 196 259 215 202 168 144 187 172

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 190 193 193 216 172 193 177 229 206

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 230 173 166 299 140 102 137 125 132

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 199 224 194 220 268 286 288 262 195

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 209 248 195 176 156 143 146 154 168

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 283 221 222 208 185 192 162 210 227

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 110 114 182 89 238 102 130 128 142

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 137 136 137 156 140 130 155 139 137

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 316 372 275 273 386 331 325 293 228

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 217 206 215 219 210 235 211 222 239

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 138 159 132 169 145 132 141 125 133

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 206 163 161 125 200 – 212 210 133

Reason for layoff 2

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 174 172 168 181 154 144 131 153 153

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 177 190 297 166 161 152 153 172 156

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 186 180 170 220 168 138 120 142 176

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 118 202 100

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 195 203 190

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 213 207 214 158 198 163 159 179 145

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 167 163 143 132 131 152 137 154 145

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 220 204 209 200 188 251 313 239 210

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 267 230 271 238 222 336 722 488 309

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 207 198 198 191 179 229 173 184 186

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 303 270 261 205 207 228 223 217 213

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 470 359 341 224 238 283 267 298 389

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 196 153 151

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 231 226 217 197 187 209 232 259 237

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 229 163 308 425 237 321 234 254 208

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 127 171 203 220 181 134 231 142 149

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... 274 353 172 – 246 150 392 131 110

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 188 262 324

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 304 192 861 966 344 629 274 481 226

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 99 159 121 77 138 149 89 230 117

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... 372 283 368 269 362 475 723 206 239

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 143 157 138 148 133 183 185 209 150

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 248 123 177 204 186 269 177 192 162

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 142 131 175 134 155 123 106 158 210

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 123 239 209 459 255 172 120 120 182

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 155 135 252 138 254 168 202 127 –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 235 139 168 130 165 309 95 275 116

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 107 120 162 123 154 95 94 151 274

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 206 211 201 197 195 206 194 198 185

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 207 212 202 199 197 209 196 206 186

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 194 178 193 160 156 157 184 169 184

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 199 214 201 213 208 213 167 195 205

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 212 187 175 218 178 195 163 167 155

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 197 276 218 227 238 244 186 265 255

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 159 190 174 178 184 177 158 178 193

Domestic relocation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 185 195 161 ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 )

Overseas relocation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 199 251 213 ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 ) ( 5 )

Other selected measures

Worksite closures ................................................................................................................ 304 259 229 214 192 248 212 240 216

Recall expected ........................................................................................................................... 185 189 183 181 178 185 180 179 172

No recall expected .................................................................................................................... 230 213 201 222 187 200 167 186 175

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. related to the September 11 attacks. Thus, data for 2001 pertain to the 

2

 See footnote 1, table 6. third and fourth quarters only.

3

 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data. 5 Beginning with data for 2004, these reasons for layoff are no longer

4 Non-natural disaster was added as a reason for layoff in the third used. For additional information, see the technical note.

quarter of 2001, in order to be able to identify layoffs directly or indirectly NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Measure

Average number of separations

Table 16. Average number of separations in extended mass layoff events by selected measures, private nonfarm sector, 2001–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 6. 

3

 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data.

4

 Non-natural disaster was added as a reason for layoff in the third quarter of 

2001, in order to be able to identify layoffs directly or indirectly related to the September 

11 attacks. Thus, data for 2001 pertain to the third and fourth quarters only.

5

 Beginning with data for 2004, these reasons for layoff are no longer used. 

For additional information, see the technical note. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
20

Table 17. State and selected claimant characteristics: extended mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment

insurance, private nonfarm sector, 2008–09

Percent of total

Black Hispanic

origin Women People aged 55and older

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8,259 11,827 1,670,042 2,439,840 14.5 13.7 16.7 16.3 37.2 35.7 18.1 18.9 

Alabama ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60 79 18,214 24,501 48.7 42.8 3.0 2.4 47.7 42.2 15.5 15.1 

Alaska ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22 46 5,116 10,638 4.3 4.8 16.4 13.3 34.1 29.2 24.8 23.1 

Arizona ..................................................................................................................................................................... 64 129 10,170 21,416 5.4 5.6 38.4 38.7 42.9 44.3 15.2 16.6 

Arkansas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 48 49 9,025 9,823 31.5 28.6 6.0 4.8 50.9 38.8 14.5 16.8 

California ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,161 2,945 375,422 568,708 8.9 8.8 38.1 35.8 38.8 39.0 14.9 15.9 

Colorado ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 129 7,884 17,772 5.3 4.9 30.8 22.0 32.5 32.7 19.3 18.9 

Connecticut ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47 84 8,825 14,185 13.5 13.9 12.6 14.4 45.7 48.5 24.2 23.7 

Delaware ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 26 1,345 3,866 27.3 22.0 5.8 3.6 36.4 29.9 24.6 20.8 

District of Columbia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 12 936 1,464 83.0 57.1 6.3 12.5 62.5 49.5 15.2 18.6 

Florida ..................................................................................................................................................................... 480 629 93,111 133,430 15.4 16.4 28.6 28.0 39.8 40.5 19.6 19.5 

Georgia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 114 136 30,610 39,458 36.5 43.0 7.0 4.7 41.5 43.6 16.1 17.0 

Hawaii ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 34 5,611 4,216 3.7 1.7 10.5 11.1 32.9 31.7 16.4 14.3 

Idaho ..................................................................................................................................................................... 93 54 13,492 8,831 .3 .3 13.3 10.9 37.0 34.6 17.5 18.6 

Illinois ..................................................................................................................................................................... 591 745 122,380 159,179 21.4 15.9 14.6 13.3 38.5 33.2 16.2 17.9 

Indiana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 289 277 80,622 54,396 7.5 7.4 4.2 2.6 30.9 29.4 15.7 18.9 

Iowa ..................................................................................................................................................................... 79 87 19,926 24,057 2.9 2.6 3.0 2.0 32.4 26.2 19.3 18.9 

Kansas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 55 89 8,188 25,611 11.5 9.1 4.5 5.8 40.3 30.7 17.4 17.1 

Kentucky ..................................................................................................................................................................... 125 198 19,270 33,871 6.4 5.5 .2 .3 18.6 17.0 15.3 16.4 

Louisiana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 100 128 16,455 19,124 57.6 52.0 2.4 3.2 44.0 37.4 18.7 20.1 

Maine ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 33 2,611 5,567 1.5 1.4 .2 .3 32.7 29.6 24.4 23.0 

Maryland ..................................................................................................................................................................... 54 84 7,246 10,213 43.5 41.9 2.5 3.1 43.0 41.8 22.3 20.8 

Massachusetts ..................................................................................................................................................................... 107 133 16,562 23,113 11.2 9.4 1.8 1.5 46.0 46.4 23.1 23.4 

Michigan ..................................................................................................................................................................... 385 442 135,728 164,122 18.2 20.0 3.8 3.1 30.0 29.3 18.5 18.0 

Minnesota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 169 274 28,250 44,512 4.8 4.3 5.9 4.8 22.4 25.1 16.6 19.6 

Mississippi ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 54 8,516 5,241 56.3 63.1 2.6 1.6 39.5 40.6 15.5 18.3 

Missouri ..................................................................................................................................................................... 201 245 35,337 43,459 16.4 16.0 .3 1.0 44.4 42.3 21.4 23.5 

Montana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 35 3,903 4,440 .1 .1 3.5 3.1 22.3 22.1 21.4 22.5 

Nebraska ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19 24 2,166 3,399 5.0 2.3 10.1 7.7 23.1 38.0 27.7 28.8 

Nevada ..................................................................................................................................................................... 94 195 22,542 44,547 9.4 8.4 32.0 31.1 42.4 34.0 17.9 18.1 

New Hampshire ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 26 1,434 3,957 .9 .7 1.5 3.0 51.7 41.7 27.5 25.7 

New Jersey ..................................................................................................................................................................... 248 340 46,436 60,114 21.0 20.3 8.1 8.9 53.1 52.9 26.4 25.9 

New Mexico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 38 65 5,886 9,168 2.8 2.1 43.7 44.5 29.2 33.1 18.9 17.4 

New York ..................................................................................................................................................................... 413 695 80,112 130,062 13.4 13.9 12.2 12.6 41.4 42.0 21.7 23.2 

North Carolina ..................................................................................................................................................................... 69 206 15,500 60,995 37.2 39.1 6.0 6.3 41.0 42.2 21.1 17.0 

North Dakota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 31 1,364 4,942 2.0 1.5 3.1 2.0 19.1 16.7 17.2 18.0 

Ohio ..................................................................................................................................................................... 385 562 87,352 135,683 13.1 11.3 3.2 3.4 31.9 27.6 18.5 21.9 

Oklahoma ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 64 6,549 11,927 8.4 9.6 5.0 6.9 30.2 24.5 15.7 16.2 

Oregon ..................................................................................................................................................................... 130 189 34,552 46,505 .9 1.6 15.8 16.1 34.0 37.8 20.4 20.4 

Pennsylvania ..................................................................................................................................................................... 475 769 100,346 160,337 6.0 5.3 3.7 3.2 34.3 29.9 24.3 24.8 

Rhode Island ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21 30 2,428 2,898 3.8 4.5 18.3 17.1 58.6 55.3 32.8 30.1 

South Carolina ..................................................................................................................................................................... 84 136 19,976 23,056 63.7 50.9 .8 1.2 47.1 45.9 6.7 10.5 

South Dakota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5 9 541 869 1.7 4.3 7.0 2.3 53.4 28.4 24.2 18.5 

Tennessee ..................................................................................................................................................................... 130 175 25,316 31,505 26.3 22.2 .1 – 44.7 39.5 23.2 21.7 

Texas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 203 308 46,700 65,393 17.6 16.1 42.2 40.1 32.6 28.4 13.5 14.6 

Utah ..................................................................................................................................................................... 34 63 6,509 11,412 1.8 1.4 17.1 12.0 36.1 29.1 10.7 12.7 

Vermont ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 35 2,162 5,559 .8 .6 .3 .3 29.1 33.2 20.3 25.2 

Virginia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 48 107 8,391 22,909 31.5 38.2 3.5 3.9 43.7 42.7 22.8 20.1 

Washington ..................................................................................................................................................................... 145 219 24,879 45,204 4.5 5.7 13.0 12.7 35.9 37.3 18.6 15.8 

West Virginia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20 49 2,533 6,768 .3 .2 – .1 29.0 16.9 14.4 16.2 

Wisconsin ..................................................................................................................................................................... 160 344 41,099 76,089 4.7 6.2 6.8 6.3 31.9 30.5 21.1 20.0 

Wyoming ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 10 514 1,329 .8 1.8 .8 7.0 29.2 25.6 23.9 15.9 

Puerto Rico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47 51 10,281 11,201 .1 .1 98.2 99.3 56.6 52.2 9.5 10.7 

 1 See footnote 1, table 1. 

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

State Layoff events Total initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

Table 17. State and selected claimant characteristics: extended mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, private nonfarm 

sector, 2008–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
21

Table 18. Claimant race and ethnicity: percent of initial claimants for unemployment insurance, by industry and reason

for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2008–09

Percent of total race/ethnicity1

White Black Hispanic

origin

American Indian or 

Alaska Native

Asian or Pacific 

Islander

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm2

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 58.0 57.9 14.5 13.7 16.7 16.3 .7 .7 3.1 3.7

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 71.6 65.3 2.9 4.5 17.3 16.7 1.8 2.7 1.0 .8

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 86.3 85.2 4.4 5.7 4.7 4.1 .3 .5 .8 2.1

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 63.0 63.3 6.1 5.7 23.7 23.1 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.3

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 65.2 66.9 14.0 12.5 10.9 9.5 .6 .5 2.9 3.6

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 49.1 57.2 13.9 12.5 25.5 18.2 .6 .6 3.2 4.3

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 47.4 50.8 17.9 16.9 22.3 19.2 .7 .7 3.2 3.2

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 56.3 51.8 19.5 20.4 13.9 17.0 .5 .6 2.8 2.7

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 57.7 58.8 15.4 13.4 12.9 11.9 .6 .5 4.0 5.3

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 47.8 48.3 13.2 15.1 17.7 16.2 .4 .4 7.9 8.3

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 47.0 49.9 13.7 12.2 24.0 21.1 .4 .7 5.0 5.4

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 61.6 57.4 13.6 13.7 12.3 13.8 .5 .6 4.3 5.7

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 57.6 58.9 23.7 20.3 9.5 8.9 .6 .4 4.1 4.1

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 46.0 44.8 20.0 17.8 23.5 25.1 .6 .8 2.2 3.3

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 42.4 46.0 23.4 21.6 19.3 17.2 .6 .4 4.3 4.7

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 41.1 41.3 24.5 21.5 24.2 23.8 .6 .9 2.6 3.7

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 61.2 58.4 13.7 12.0 13.3 17.4 .7 .7 2.4 2.3

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 48.3 45.2 17.5 17.2 19.6 22.1 .6 .8 6.1 6.3

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 41.8 44.2 27.8 23.9 17.7 17.8 1.5 1.3 3.2 3.1

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 49.3 64.2 4.0 9.4 7.0 12.8 .4 1.1 4.2 3.4

Reason for layoff3

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 61.1 61.7 13.1 12.3 16.0 15.4 .7 .8 2.5 2.9

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 54.2 50.8 19.3 18.7 15.5 17.4 .8 .9 3.9 4.7

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 54.3 55.8 11.8 11.0 25.3 23.9 1.0 1.1 2.1 2.0

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.2 63.7 29.9 8.2 3.7 1.5 1.6 .2 1.0 .4

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 68.2 79.2 17.3 10.3 8.8 3.4 .9 .6 2.3 1.5

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59.0 56.4 21.3 29.0 7.2 6.1 .4 .4 5.1 1.9

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63.8 63.7 12.9 12.4 13.2 12.9 .7 .7 2.5 3.2

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51.9 57.0 17.4 16.0 15.4 11.7 .5 .4 5.1 5.0

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 53.4 48.3 15.6 13.2 15.7 19.0 .6 .4 5.6 6.7

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51.7 58.6 17.7 16.5 15.3 10.4 .5 .4 5.0 4.6

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.2 54.9 15.1 17.8 18.0 13.0 .6 .6 5.6 5.4

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59.0 61.5 13.1 20.1 11.8 9.1 .4 .4 6.5 2.4

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.4 52.2 15.7 18.5 18.0 13.2 .6 .7 5.0 6.5

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 49.1 54.6 15.3 13.6 20.7 16.4 .6 .6 5.8 5.7

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63.3 49.3 14.2 14.1 10.3 17.2 .5 .4 2.8 4.0

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33.0 46.2 7.1 29.4 44.6 6.7 1.1 .2 6.8 5.8

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... 87.0 94.5 2.7 – 6.3 1.8 .3 2.7 1.4 –

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32.7 52.0 25.6 19.8 14.5 16.3 .3 .3 7.8 4.3

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 81.2 65.0 7.0 9.0 3.8 13.8 .2 .1 2.0 4.5

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 50.2 30.3 26.3 3.0 6.8 50.3 .4 1.2 1.5 6.3

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... 62.8 48.2 5.6 2.1 1.8 46.6 – .2 .8 1.5

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.8 76.9 24.5 8.1 12.4 5.5 1.7 .6 1.4 4.0

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60.6 29.5 21.6 15.7 7.4 6.1 .4 .1 4.4 3.3

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 45.0 38.8 35.0 16.6 12.7 16.4 .7 .7 1.9 1.5

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32.1 18.8 – .6 – – – – – –

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 57.9 – 35.9 – .4 – – – 1.1 –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 64.5 27.7 .7 39.0 26.3 19.6 .6 .5 7.0 4.5

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 42.4 53.6 39.2 9.4 11.7 20.9 .7 1.2 1.4 .3

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 61.4 60.7 13.7 13.7 17.0 16.8 .7 .8 2.3 2.6

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 62.1 62.1 12.4 11.2 17.6 17.8 .7 .8 2.5 2.9

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 58.6 55.8 19.0 22.6 14.6 13.3 .7 .8 1.4 1.6

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51.3 49.3 16.7 14.1 18.6 20.6 .7 .8 3.7 4.9

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41.4 49.6 16.2 13.5 24.8 16.3 .9 .9 6.2 5.8

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.0 45.3 20.1 15.3 14.8 23.9 .6 .7 3.4 4.4

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52.0 50.9 46.55636531 15.2 13.7 19.5 19.6 .8 .7 3.6 5.1

 1 Due to some nonreporting, sums of percentages within 3

 See footnote 1, table 6.

race/ethnicity may not equal 100.0 percent. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

Measure

Table 18. Claimant race and ethnicity: percent of initial claimants for unemployment insurance, by industry and reason for layoff, private 

nonfarm sector, 2008–09 

1

 Due to some nonreporting, sums of percentages within race/ethnicity may 

not equal 100.0 percent.

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

3

 See footnote 1, table 6. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
22

Table 19. Claimant age and gender: percent of initial claimants for unemployment insurance, by industry and reason for

layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2008–09

Percent of total by gender1

Measure Less than 30 years 30–44 45–54 55 or older Men Women

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm2

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19.8 19.7 34.8 34.2 26.5 26.6 18.1 18.9 62.1 63.4 37.2 35.7

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 23.7 25.5 37.2 35.2 24.9 23.6 13.9 15.5 93.5 90.5 5.6 6.8

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 15.9 14.0 30.3 34.4 29.5 30.5 23.8 20.9 85.3 82.7 14.3 17.3

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 20.0 19.5 39.5 40.0 26.9 26.9 13.2 13.3 92.8 93.5 6.7 6.0

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 13.7 11.5 35.1 34.4 30.6 31.8 19.2 21.4 67.3 70.4 31.7 28.4

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 17.8 16.4 36.5 35.4 26.9 27.5 18.3 19.9 62.5 61.9 36.9 37.7

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 40.8 42.8 27.1 26.0 17.7 16.7 14.0 14.3 42.4 44.7 57.2 54.9

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 14.9 14.8 32.0 31.9 26.4 27.0 26.3 25.9 53.8 56.2 45.7 43.1

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 18.4 16.8 37.3 37.8 24.6 26.1 19.4 19.0 55.3 58.9 44.6 40.9

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 22.9 21.6 40.8 38.6 21.1 22.4 15.0 17.1 39.0 39.0 60.5 60.8

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 28.0 26.6 34.4 34.4 21.3 21.9 16.1 16.8 50.3 62.7 49.5 37.1

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 15.2 19.2 32.1 32.8 23.7 22.0 28.8 25.8 45.5 47.5 54.1 52.2

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 22.5 13.1 36.7 30.5 25.0 27.4 15.6 29.0 46.5 46.8 53.3 52.2

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 28.0 29.1 34.7 34.5 22.7 21.8 14.2 14.1 60.7 59.6 38.2 39.4

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 17.4 21.5 33.5 32.9 24.8 22.5 24.1 22.9 29.8 32.2 70.1 67.7

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 16.7 18.6 37.2 36.9 25.7 24.6 20.0 19.4 12.6 16.8 87.0 82.9

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 26.7 32.2 25.6 25.9 19.0 18.4 28.3 23.3 54.2 54.3 45.3 45.2

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 23.5 24.1 29.9 30.3 25.5 25.4 20.4 19.9 37.8 41.9 61.6 57.5

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 22.1 21.7 33.4 33.9 23.8 24.3 18.9 18.5 38.2 46.2 61.5 51.4

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 10.1 6.8 37.6 27.2 28.2 32.1 23.5 34.0 51.7 79.6 48.1 20.4

Reason for layoff3

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18.8 18.1 36.6 35.6 27.9 27.6 16.3 18.0 71.4 71.9 27.7 27.3

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23.1 23.7 35.3 33.5 24.1 24.8 16.5 17.9 60.5 57.9 39.3 41.4

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21.9 21.6 37.4 37.5 26.0 25.3 14.4 15.2 81.7 78.5 17.4 20.7

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10.5 25.8 37.3 34.4 31.2 25.0 15.4 14.7 52.2 55.9 40.9 21.1

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14.7 14.5 34.6 32.3 28.6 26.3 19.1 21.9 71.6 77.2 28.0 22.6

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10.3 8.8 31.4 29.6 31.7 29.2 24.7 25.8 52.4 56.2 47.5 43.3

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17.7 16.7 36.5 35.3 28.6 28.7 16.8 18.8 68.8 70.3 30.2 28.9

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20.1 15.3 35.5 36.4 26.3 28.7 18.0 19.4 52.6 57.2 46.3 42.0

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20.6 16.1 34.3 37.4 25.6 27.9 19.3 18.3 48.8 52.1 51.0 47.4

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20.0 15.2 35.7 36.2 26.4 28.8 17.7 19.5 53.3 58.1 45.4 41.0

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23.2 21.0 33.9 33.5 24.6 26.2 18.0 19.1 51.5 56.2 47.9 43.3

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23.6 19.1 35.2 33.4 23.8 27.8 16.9 19.6 53.5 63.1 44.7 35.4

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21.2 20.4 34.0 34.4 25.4 25.8 19.2 19.3 52.9 54.1 46.5 45.7

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 25.2 24.2 33.3 31.8 24.0 25.5 17.2 18.1 49.1 54.5 50.8 45.2

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14.7 15.2 35.9 34.9 29.2 28.2 19.3 21.4 65.5 50.7 32.9 39.5

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13.9 15.6 31.7 34.9 31.0 27.5 23.3 21.7 48.7 42.8 49.4 48.3

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27.2 40.9 46.2 40.0 18.7 13.6 8.0 5.5 78.8 98.2 21.2 1.8

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18.5 21.6 34.6 35.7 25.2 23.1 21.3 19.4 40.2 38.6 57.2 59.6

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7.2 14.9 37.6 35.8 32.7 32.2 22.4 17.0 76.2 76.1 23.7 23.9

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11.7 19.9 25.7 32.2 37.3 25.8 25.3 22.1 66.8 50.1 33.2 49.9

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15.9 8.2 49.7 39.1 22.6 31.7 11.8 20.9 52.0 47.3 19.2 52.6

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12.0 14.3 26.9 33.4 30.4 26.8 22.6 25.5 62.3 79.9 37.7 19.9

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13.5 7.2 37.4 33.1 31.4 34.2 17.6 24.9 57.3 42.3 41.3 18.3

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28.6 18.3 35.5 34.7 22.7 26.0 13.1 17.1 57.5 64.8 41.8 15.7

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33.3 22.1 24.7 38.2 28.4 20.7 13.6 19.0 29.6 19.4 2.5 –

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4.8 – 26.7 – 37.0 – 31.5 – 82.8 – 17.2 –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27.9 24.1 33.9 34.5 25.1 27.5 12.7 13.8 56.9 62.4 43.1 37.6

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29.6 13.2 36.1 33.4 21.8 27.2 12.5 18.4 56.9 84.4 43.0 8.5

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18.6 18.8 31.8 31.0 26.1 26.2 22.9 23.8 53.1 52.8 46.4 46.6

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20.5 20.8 32.1 31.6 25.8 25.9 21.0 21.6 59.7 60.9 39.8 38.5

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11.1 11.8 30.5 28.9 27.1 27.2 30.8 31.5 26.1 24.7 73.4 74.8

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22.3 24.7 34.0 33.3 24.4 24.1 16.8 16.9 58.7 58.1 41.0 41.0

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29.0 22.3 31.8 34.3 21.6 24.7 15.1 16.6 52.2 61.1 46.8 38.1

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23.3 31.7 35.1 31.9 23.7 21.3 16.8 14.5 59.7 57.1 39.9 42.4

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21.2 22.0 33.8 33.9 24.9 25.3 17.0 17.8 59.0 58.2 40.8 40.5

 1 Due to some nonreporting, sums of percentages within age and 3

 See footnote 1, table 6.

gender may not equal 100.0 percent. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

Percent of total by age1

Table 19. Claimant age and gender: percent of initial claimants for unemployment insurance, by industry and reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 

2008–09

1

 Due to some nonreporting, sums of percentages within age and gender may not 

equal 100.0 percent. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

3

 See footnote 1, table 6. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
23

Table 20. Claimants for unemployment insurance associated with extended mass layoff events, by State, 

private nonfarm sector, 2009

Number

 Average number 

filed per initial 

claimant 

Number

 Percentage of 

initial claimants 

receiving final 

payments 

 Total, private nonfarm2

.............................................................................................................................. 2,439,840 5,657,107 2.3 575,839 23.6 

Alabama .............................................................................................................................. 24,501 51,759 2.1 3,727 15.2 

Alaska .............................................................................................................................. 10,638 21,630 2.0 2,189 20.6 

Arizona .............................................................................................................................. 21,416 56,572 2.6 6,747 31.5 

Arkansas .............................................................................................................................. 9,823 28,968 2.9 3,487 35.5 

California .............................................................................................................................. 568,708 1,273,709 2.2 139,047 24.4 

Colorado .............................................................................................................................. 17,772 64,167 3.6 782 4.4 

Connecticut .............................................................................................................................. 14,185 45,775 3.2 4,580 32.3 

Delaware .............................................................................................................................. 3,866 6,813 1.8 581 15.0 

District of Columbia .............................................................................................................................. 1,464 4,968 3.4 230 15.7 

Florida .............................................................................................................................. 133,430 410,326 3.1 53,776 40.3 

Georgia .............................................................................................................................. 39,458 79,614 2.0 12,500 31.7 

Hawaii .............................................................................................................................. 4,216 7,789 1.8 479 11.4 

Idaho .............................................................................................................................. 8,831 16,973 1.9 2,273 25.7 

Illinois .............................................................................................................................. 159,179 421,656 2.6 38,106 23.9 

Indiana .............................................................................................................................. 54,396 125,744 2.3 14,476 26.6 

Iowa .............................................................................................................................. 24,057 45,809 1.9 4,060 16.9 

Kansas .............................................................................................................................. 25,611 65,174 2.5 7,552 29.5 

Kentucky .............................................................................................................................. 33,871 7,818 .2 6,649 19.6 

Louisiana .............................................................................................................................. 19,124 43,452 2.3 3,767 19.7 

Maine .............................................................................................................................. 5,567 9,449 1.7 1,388 24.9 

Maryland .............................................................................................................................. 10,213 31,095 3.0 2,611 25.6 

Massachusetts .............................................................................................................................. 23,113 60,618 2.6 8,161 35.3 

Michigan .............................................................................................................................. 164,122 308,902 1.9 24,083 14.7 

Minnesota .............................................................................................................................. 44,512 98,833 2.2 7,098 15.9 

Mississippi .............................................................................................................................. 5,241 19,417 3.7 2,299 43.9 

Missouri .............................................................................................................................. 43,459 99,657 2.3 4,566 10.5 

Montana .............................................................................................................................. 4,440 7,325 1.6 746 16.8 

Nebraska .............................................................................................................................. 3,399 3,590 1.1 87 2.6 

Nevada ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44,547 94,061 2.1 10,575 23.7 

New Hampshire ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3,957 7,833 2.0 467 11.8 

New Jersey ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60,114 160,346 2.7 17,143 28.5 

New Mexico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9,168 30,385 3.3 3,116 34.0 

New York.............................................................................................................................. 130,062 343,510 2.6 30,962 23.8 

North Carolina .............................................................................................................................. 60,995 215,831 3.5 28,424 46.6 

North Dakota .............................................................................................................................. 4,942 5,568 1.1 630 12.7 

Ohio .............................................................................................................................. 135,683 300,053 2.2 25,531 18.8 

Oklahoma .............................................................................................................................. 11,927 31,855 2.7 3,744 31.4 

Oregon .............................................................................................................................. 46,505 89,984 1.9 10,401 22.4 

Pennsylvania .............................................................................................................................. 160,337 257,614 1.6 19,067 11.9 

Rhode Island .............................................................................................................................. 2,898 7,332 2.5 620 21.4 

South Carolina .............................................................................................................................. 23,056 51,876 2.3 5,478 23.8 

South Dakota .............................................................................................................................. 869 2,884 3.3 318 36.6 

Tennessee .............................................................................................................................. 31,505 102,509 3.3 12,423 39.4 

Texas .............................................................................................................................. 65,393 173,810 2.7 18,826 28.8 

Utah .............................................................................................................................. 11,412 22,148 1.9 1,950 17.1 

Vermont .............................................................................................................................. 5,559 12,633 2.3 855 15.4 

Virginia .............................................................................................................................. 22,909 47,993 2.1 4,753 20.7 

Washington .............................................................................................................................. 45,204 123,937 2.7 11,878 26.3 

West Virginia .............................................................................................................................. 6,768 21,657 3.2 142 2.1 

Wisconsin .............................................................................................................................. 76,089 132,127 1.7 12,038 15.8 

Wyoming .............................................................................................................................. 1,329 3,559 2.7 451 33.9 

Puerto Rico ..................................................................................................................................................... 11,201 29,730 2.7 586 5.2 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

State

Initial claims for 

unemployment 

insurance

Continued claims without earnings1 Final payments for 

unemployment insurance1

1 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued

claim activity for initial claimants associated with extended mass

layoffs once a month during the Current Population Survey (CPS)

reference week, which is usually the week including the 12th day of

the month. Continued claims with earnings are excluded because

individuals who make such claims are classified as employed in the

CPS. Final payment information for MLS claimants is collected

weekly. (See the Technical Note for additional information.) 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

1

 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued claim activity 

for initial claimants associated with extended mass layoffs once a month during 

the Current Population Survey (CPS) reference week, which is usually the 

week including the 12th day of the month. Continued claims with earnings are 

excluded because individuals who make such claims are classified as employed 

in the CPS. Final payment information for MLS claimants is collected weekly. 

(See the Technical Note for additional information.) 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Table 20. Claimants for unemployment insurance associated with extended mass layoff events, by State, 

private nonfarm sector, 2009 
24

Table 21. Claimants for unemployment insurance associated with extended mass layoff events, by industry and

reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Number

 Average number 

filed per initial 

claimant 

Number

 Percentage of 

initial claimants 

receiving final 

payments 

 Total, private nonfarm2........................................................................................................................................... 2,439,840 5,657,107 2.3 575,839 23.6

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 31,188 90,343 2.9 8,149 26.1

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 4,264 7,241 1.7 594 13.9

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 312,787 696,401 2.2 56,321 18.0

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 893,502 1,892,999 2.1 188,222 21.1

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 47,220 138,481 2.9 15,177 32.1

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 188,626 473,626 2.5 58,370 30.9

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 130,674 254,785 1.9 21,296 16.3

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 73,317 190,679 2.6 18,954 25.9

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 101,746 358,136 3.5 40,218 39.5

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 13,364 35,383 2.6 3,936 29.5

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 81,193 227,123 2.8 29,362 36.2

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 11,578 25,408 2.2 2,499 21.6

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 279,691 709,892 2.5 84,970 30.4

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 11,368 27,721 2.4 2,843 25.0

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 51,006 128,915 2.5 9,719 19.1

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 39,232 81,620 2.1 6,658 17.0

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 149,143 270,328 1.8 24,223 16.2

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 19,676 47,581 2.4 4,275 21.7

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 265 445 1.7 53 20.0

Reason for layoff3

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,140,737 2,610,238 2.3 273,403 24.0

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 46,701 114,378 2.4 13,023 27.9

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 273,370 645,668 2.4 71,191 26.0

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,615 3,195 2.0 592 36.7

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32,853 62,732 1.9 5,742 17.5

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3,002 10,607 3.5 1,353 45.1

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 783,196 1,773,658 2.3 181,502 23.2

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 136,415 402,494 3.0 43,567 31.9

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21,097 58,369 2.8 6,066 28.8

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 115,318 344,125 3.0 37,501 32.5

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 244,644 705,403 2.9 79,580 32.5

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 55,642 157,851 2.8 17,559 31.6

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 133,378 384,214 2.9 43,137 32.3

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 55,624 163,338 2.9 18,884 33.9

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10,876 27,871 2.6 2,912 26.8

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 956 2,909 3.0 378 39.5

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... 110 321 2.9 43 39.1

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3,227 11,439 3.5 1,080 33.5

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,138 2,487 2.2 196 17.2

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 829 885 1.1 91 11.0

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,065 2,154 2.0 67 6.3

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,239 2,714 2.2 192 15.5

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,312 4,962 2.1 865 37.4

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,431 4,026 1.7 506 20.8

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 484 173 .4 165 34.1

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – – –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 739 2,065 2.8 202 27.3

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,208 1,788 1.5 139 11.5

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 394,620 777,942 2.0 55,726 14.1

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 306,526 623,854 2.0 49,705 16.2

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 88,094 154,088 1.7 6,021 6.8

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 510,117 1,129,133 2.2 120,145 23.6

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21,560 64,784 3.0 6,638 30.8

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 142,023 293,548 2.1 29,982 21.1

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 346,534 770,801 2.2 83,525 24.1

Other selected measures

Worksite closures ................................................................................................................ 206,549 693,053 3.4 82,381 39.9

Recall expected ........................................................................................................................... 804,214 1,601,558 2.0 128,812 16.0

No recall expected .................................................................................................................... 955,667 2,541,271 2.7 290,567 30.4

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Measure

Initial claims for 

unemployment 

insurance

Continued claims without earnings1 Final payments for unemployment 

insurance1

1 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued claim

activity for initial claimants associated with extended mass layoffs once a

month during the Current Population Survey (CPS) reference week, which

is usually the week including the 12th day of the month. Continued claims

with earnings are excluded because individuals who make such claims are

Final payment information for MLS claimants is collected weekly. (See 

the technical note for additional information.) 2 See footnote 1, table 1. 3 See footnote 1, table 6.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Table 21. Claimants for unemployment insurance associated with extended mass layoff events, by industry and reason 

for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued 

claim activity for initial claimants associated with extended mass 

layoffs once a month during the Current Population Survey (CPS) 

reference week, which is usually the week including the 12th day of 

the month. Continued claims with earnings are excluded because 

individuals who make such claims are classified as employed in the 

CPS. Final payment information for MLS claimants is collected weekly. 

(See the technical note for additional information.)

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

3

 See footnote 1, table 6.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
25

Table 22. Claimants for unemployment insurance, based on residency, associated with extended mass layoff events, 

50 highest metropolitan areas, private nonfarm sector, 2009

Number

 Average 

number filed per 

initial claimant 

Number

 Percentage of 

initial claimants 

receiving final 

payments 

 Total, 372 metropolitan areas2........................................................................................................................................................................ 1,960,435 4,636,205 2.4 475,113 24.2

 Total, top 50 metropolitan areas3 ....................................................................... 1,346,985 3,200,142 2.4 327,130 24.3

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. ........................................................................... 183,917 405,039 2.2 44,309 24.1

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. ........................................................................... 111,603 313,426 2.8 31,281 28.0

Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. ........................................................................... 88,671 168,716 1.9 12,379 14.0

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. ........................................................................... 87,968 260,915 3.0 24,046 27.3

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. ........................................................................... 70,673 165,823 2.3 18,122 25.6

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. ........................................................................... 69,019 146,482 2.1 15,919 23.1

San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. ........................................................................... 42,219 91,652 2.2 9,848 23.3

Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. .................................................................................. 37,425 77,954 2.1 8,628 23.1

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. ........................................................................... 33,502 114,674 3.4 15,427 46.0

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ........................................................................... 31,687 82,593 2.6 8,985 28.4

Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, Calif. ........................................................................... 31,275 74,337 2.4 8,356 26.7

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. ........................................................................... 27,922 60,966 2.2 5,541 19.8

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. ........................................................................... 27,406 85,455 3.1 8,418 30.7

St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. ..................................................................................................... 26,852 62,508 2.3 3,462 12.9

Pittsburgh, Pa. ........................................................................................................ 23,414 36,377 1.6 2,427 10.4

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. ........................................................................... 20,897 68,236 3.3 8,765 41.9

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash. ........................................................................... 20,410 47,171 2.3 5,598 27.4

Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio ........................................................................... 20,275 35,868 1.8 2,788 13.8

Peoria, Ill. .................................................................................................................... 19,489 30,281 1.6 2,822 14.5

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas ........................................................................... 19,247 51,262 2.7 5,426 28.2

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. ........................................................................... 18,169 45,664 2.5 3,689 20.3

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. ........................................................................... 17,354 28,984 1.7 2,626 15.1

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. ........................................................................... 16,755 50,757 3.0 6,682 39.9

Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. ........................................................................... 14,250 32,557 2.3 2,776 19.5

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. ........................................................................... 14,010 38,126 2.7 4,934 35.2

Stockton, Calif. ......................................................................................................... 13,373 30,075 2.2 3,341 25.0

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. ........................................................................... 13,189 32,970 2.5 5,535 42.0

Fresno, Calif. ........................................................................................................... 13,179 28,612 2.2 3,378 25.6

Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. ........................................................................... 13,083 24,979 1.9 2,848 21.8

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas ........................................................................... 12,932 39,205 3.0 4,359 33.7

Wichita, Kan. ............................................................................................................... 12,931 33,893 2.6 4,112 31.8

Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz. ........................................................................... 12,670 35,570 2.8 4,034 31.8

Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. ............................................................................................. 12,412 29,442 2.4 3,240 26.1

Modesto, Calif. ................................................................................................................... 12,379 24,687 2.0 2,982 24.1

Jacksonville, Fla. ................................................................................................................ 11,503 34,323 3.0 4,017 34.9

Flint, Mich. ......................................................................................................................... 11,275 19,941 1.8 1,291 11.5

Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind. ........................................................................... 11,274 5,534 .5 1,706 15.1

Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. ........................................................................... 11,208 26,363 2.4 2,728 24.3

York-Hanover, Pa. ............................................................................................................. 11,058 13,464 1.2 1,027 9.3

Toledo, Ohio .......................................................................................................................... 11,024 24,293 2.2 1,755 15.9

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. ........................................................................... 9,889 35,703 3.6 4,690 47.4

Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. .................................................................................................. 9,725 19,120 2.0 1,499 15.4

Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. ............................................................................................................ 9,664 25,853 2.7 2,041 21.1

Columbus, Ohio ....................................................................................................................... 9,281 27,203 2.9 2,707 29.2

Rockford, Ill. ....................................................................................................................... 8,770 22,962 2.6 2,074 23.6

Rochester, N.Y. ................................................................................................................... 8,671 19,800 2.3 1,639 18.9

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, Pa. ........................................................................... 8,604 12,897 1.5 920 10.7

Erie, Pa. ............................................................................................................................... 8,348 13,144 1.6 828 9.9

Lancaster, Pa. ...................................................................................................................... 8,342 12,094 1.4 719 8.6

Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colo. ........................................................................... 7,792 32,192 4.1 406 5.2

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Metropolitan area

Initial claims for 

unemployment 

insurance

Continued claims without 

earnings1

Final payments for 

unemployment insurance1

1 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued claim

activity for initial claimants associated with extended mass layoffs

once a month during the Current Population Survey (CPS) reference

week, which is usually the week including the 12th day of the month.

Continued claims with earnings are excluded because individuals

who make such claims are classified as employed in the CPS. Final

payment information for MLS claimants is collected

weekly. (See the technical note for additional information.) 2 See footnote 1, table 1. 3 The 50 highest metropolitan areas in terms of the level of extended 

mass layoff initial claims activity are shown. 

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown 

in this table are defined in U.S. Office of Management and Budget 

Bulletin 10-02, December 1, 2009. 

Table 22. Claimants for unemployment insurance, based on residency, associated with extended mass layoff events, 50 highest 

metropolitan areas, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1

 The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program tracks continued claim activity 

for initial claimants associated with extended mass layoffs once a month during 

the Current Population Survey (CPS) reference week, which is usually the 

week including the 12th day of the month. Continued claims with earnings 

are excluded because individuals who make such claims are classified as 

employed in the CPS. Final payment information for MLS claimants is 

collected weekly. (See the technical note for additional information.)

2 See footnote 1, table 1.

3

 The 50 highest metropolitan areas in terms of the level of extended 

mass layoff initial claims activity are shown. 

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown 

in this table are defined in U.S. Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 

10-02, December 1, 2009. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
26

Table 23. Unemployment insurance benefit exhaustion rates by selected claimant characteristics,

private nonfarm sector, 2009

Characteristic Initial claims for 

unemployment insurance

Final payments for 

unemployment insurance1

Percentage of initial claimants 

receiving final payments

 Total, private nonfarm2 .......................................................................................................... 2,439,840 575,839 23.6 

Age

Under 30 years of age ............................................. 480,955 119,873 24.9 

30–44 ........................................................................................ 835,173 195,558 23.4 

45–54 .............................................................................................. 648,469 143,534 22.1 

55 years of age or over ..................................................................... 461,192 115,636 25.1 

Not available ................................................................................................... 14,051 1,238 8.8 

Gender

Male ........................................................................................... 1,547,565 340,874 22.0 

Female ..................................................................................................................................... 871,937 230,035 26.4 

Not available ................................................................................................... 20,338 4,930 24.2 

Race/ethnicity

White ......................................................................................................... 1,413,504 301,312 21.3 

Black .................................................................................................... 333,795 97,629 29.2 

Hispanic origin ................................................................................. 397,436 99,533 25.0 

American Indian or Alaska Native ........................................... 17,853 4,636 26.0 

Asian or Pacific Islander ............................................................................ 89,243 25,036 28.1 

Not available ................................................................................................... 188,009 47,693 25.4 

 1 Final payment information for Mass Layoff Statistics claimants is collected weekly. (See the technical note for additional information.)

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Table 23. Unemployment insurance benefit exhaustion rates by selected claimant characteristics, private nonfarm sector, 2009

 1 Final payment information for Mass Layoff Statistics claimants is collected 

weekly. (See the technical note for additional information.) 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
27

Table 24. Census region and division: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09 

Table 24. Census region and division: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

Initial claimants for 

unemployment insurance

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

 United States1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,363 8,259 11,827 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803 978,712 1,670,042 2,439,840 

Northeast ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,055 1,355 2,145 183,023 246,330 366,192 203,080 260,916 405,792 

 New England ..................................................................................................................................................................... 191 219 341 41,202 36,816 55,331 28,512 34,022 55,279 

 Middle Atlantic ..................................................................................................................................................................... 864 1,136 1,804 141,821 209,514 310,861 174,568 226,894 350,513 

South ..................................................................................................................................................................... 944 1,645 2,440 158,680 305,650 456,345 156,939 329,693 503,544 

 South Atlantic ..................................................................................................................................................................... 540 888 1,385 85,684 173,612 255,975 85,269 179,648 302,159 

 East South Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 209 374 506 39,501 60,788 91,925 37,060 71,316 95,118 

 West South Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 195 383 549 33,495 71,250 108,445 34,610 78,729 106,267 

Midwest ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,552 2,349 3,129 278,483 460,641 575,897 316,882 562,953 736,318 

 East North Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,197 1,810 2,370 220,278 371,227 450,852 259,647 467,181 589,469 

 West North Central ..................................................................................................................................................................... 355 539 759 58,205 89,414 125,045 57,235 95,772 146,849 

West ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,812 2,910 4,113 345,749 504,357 710,369 301,811 516,480 794,186 

 Mountain ..................................................................................................................................................................... 208 420 680 49,334 89,810 118,740 29,309 70,900 118,915 

 Pacific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,604 2,490 3,433 296,415 414,547 591,629 272,502 445,580 675,271 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

Census region and division

Layoff events Separations

1 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The States (and the District of Columbia) that make up the census

divisions are: New England—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic–New Jersey, New York, and

Pennsylvania; South Atlantic—Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia,

Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia; East South

Central—Alabama,

Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee; West South Central—Arkansas,

Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; East North Central—Illinois, Indiana,

Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; West North Central-Iowa, Kansas,

Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota;

Mountain—Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,

Utah, and Wyoming; and Pacific—Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and

Washington.

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The States (and the District of Columbia) that make up the census divisions 

are: New England—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 

and Vermont; Middle Atlantic–New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; South Atlantic—

Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

Virginia, and West Virginia; East South Central—Alabama Kentucky, Mississippi, and 

Tennessee; West South Central—Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; East North 

Central—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; West North Central-Iowa, Kansas, 

Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Mountain—Arizona, Colorado, 

Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; and Pacific—Alaska, California, 

Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
28

Table 25. State distribution: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

Initial claimants for unemployment 

insurance

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5,363 8,259 11,827 965,935 1,516,978 2,108,803 978,712 1,670,042 2,439,840

Alabama ..................................................................................................................................................................... 39 60 79 7,594 13,237 22,102 7,532 18,214 24,501

Alaska ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 22 46 8,254 11,212 16,707 3,514 5,116 10,638

Arizona ..................................................................................................................................................................... 38 64 129 9,057 11,578 21,402 5,714 10,170 21,416

Arkansas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 48 49 5,331 7,755 9,397 6,775 9,025 9,823

California ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1,412 2,161 2,945 257,306 343,867 497,190 237,436 375,422 568,708

Colorado ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40 59 129 17,938 23,123 24,057 4,505 7,884 17,772

Connecticut ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33 47 84 9,230 9,721 15,148 6,327 8,825 14,185

Delaware ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 11 26 483 1,305 4,728 479 1,345 3,866

District of Columbia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 8 12 456 1,091 1,464 456 936 1,464

Florida ..................................................................................................................................................................... 219 480 629 37,294 105,619 138,840 30,054 93,111 133,430

Georgia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63 114 136 8,931 15,504 20,536 15,682 30,610 39,458

Hawaii ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18 32 34 3,064 8,415 3,811 2,440 5,611 4,216

Idaho ..................................................................................................................................................................... 31 93 54 5,114 12,904 8,337 4,502 13,492 8,831

Illinois ..................................................................................................................................................................... 431 591 745 81,719 120,268 140,451 76,258 122,380 159,179

Indiana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 119 289 277 17,443 46,816 39,600 29,213 80,622 54,396

Iowa ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44 79 87 6,760 10,208 10,473 8,736 19,926 24,057

Kansas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27 55 89 4,262 8,042 19,818 4,215 8,188 25,611

Kentucky ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60 125 198 8,788 17,323 35,464 7,919 19,270 33,871

Louisiana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41 100 128 6,261 17,248 23,288 4,815 16,455 19,124

Maine ..................................................................................................................................................................... 30 17 33 6,704 4,220 7,826 3,431 2,611 5,567

Maryland ..................................................................................................................................................................... 78 54 84 8,724 7,218 9,969 9,630 7,246 10,213

Massachusetts ..................................................................................................................................................................... 80 107 133 17,980 16,684 19,669 11,941 16,562 23,113

Michigan ..................................................................................................................................................................... 233 385 442 53,871 81,728 89,727 78,082 135,728 164,122

Minnesota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 133 169 274 19,928 28,618 39,799 19,328 28,250 44,512

Mississippi ..................................................................................................................................................................... 30 59 54 5,019 10,176 6,865 4,025 8,516 5,241

Missouri ..................................................................................................................................................................... 122 201 245 23,326 37,705 45,179 21,752 35,337 43,459

Montana ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20 32 35 2,119 3,278 4,971 2,151 3,903 4,440

Nebraska ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 19 24 1,555 2,782 4,168 1,142 2,166 3,399

Nevada ..................................................................................................................................................................... 30 94 195 5,990 18,926 33,851 5,829 22,542 44,547

New Hampshire ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 12 26 1,564 1,842 3,994 1,462 1,434 3,957

New Jersey ..................................................................................................................................................................... 190 248 340 43,841 53,465 67,947 33,736 46,436 60,114

New Mexico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18 38 65 2,514 5,662 10,991 2,513 5,886 9,168

New York ..................................................................................................................................................................... 371 413 695 59,817 86,014 125,569 67,834 80,112 130,062

North Carolina ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47 69 206 7,222 11,596 33,602 9,882 15,500 60,995

North Dakota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 11 31 1,614 1,364 4,659 1,614 1,364 4,942

Ohio ..................................................................................................................................................................... 277 385 562 43,872 88,507 114,879 50,299 87,352 135,683

Oklahoma ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 32 64 3,803 7,670 12,162 2,384 6,549 11,927

Oregon ..................................................................................................................................................................... 74 130 189 17,181 26,616 33,750 17,247 34,552 46,505

Pennsylvania ..................................................................................................................................................................... 303 475 769 38,163 70,035 117,345 72,998 100,346 160,337

Rhode Island ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21 21 30 3,401 2,408 2,969 3,127 2,428 2,898

South Carolina ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33 84 136 5,045 18,074 19,807 4,706 19,976 23,056

South Dakota ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 5 9 760 695 949 448 541 869

Tennessee ..................................................................................................................................................................... 80 130 175 18,100 20,052 27,494 17,584 25,316 31,505

Texas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 109 203 308 18,100 38,577 63,598 20,636 46,700 65,393

Utah ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27 34 63 4,056 9,812 9,980 3,835 6,509 11,412

Vermont ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 15 35 2,323 1,941 5,725 2,224 2,162 5,559

Virginia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 72 48 107 14,749 10,347 17,862 12,455 8,391 22,909

Washington ..................................................................................................................................................................... 83 145 219 10,610 24,437 40,171 11,865 24,879 45,204

West Virginia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18 20 49 2,780 2,858 9,167 1,925 2,533 6,768

Wisconsin ..................................................................................................................................................................... 137 160 344 23,373 33,908 66,195 25,795 41,099 76,089

Wyoming ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 6 10 2,546 4,527 5,151 260 514 1,329

Puerto Rico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 48 47 51 4,630 4,391 5,635 12,073 10,281 11,201

 1 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

State

Layoff events Separations

Table 25. State distribution: extended mass layoff events, separations, and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, 

private nonfarm sector, 2007–09

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 

 
29

Table 26. The 50 metropolitan areas with the largest number of initial claimants associated with 

extended mass layoff events in 2009, by residency of claimants, private nonfarm sector

2008 2009

Initial claims Rank1 Initial claims Rank1

 Total, 372 metropolitan areas2 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1,305,765 ... 1,960,435 ...

 Total, top 50 metropolitan areas .................................................................. 895,589 ... 1,346,985 ...

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 110,468 1 183,917 1

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 72,917 3 111,603 2

Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. .................................................................................................................................... 70,384 4 88,671 3

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. .................................................................................................................................... 78,343 2 87,968 4

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 44,277 6 70,673 5

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 51,570 5 69,019 6

San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 27,594 7 42,219 7

Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. .................................................................................................................................... 19,660 10 37,425 8

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. .................................................................................................................................... 22,275 9 33,502 9

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 17,426 13 31,687 10

Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 22,304 8 31,275 11

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. .................................................................................................................................... 18,446 12 27,922 12

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. .................................................................................................................................... 12,661 17 27,406 13

St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. .................................................................................................................................... 19,644 11 26,852 14

Pittsburgh, Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 13,407 15 23,414 15

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. .................................................................................................................................... 14,862 14 20,897 16

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash. .................................................................................................................................... 7,708 32 20,410 17

Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio .................................................................................................................................... 9,244 28 20,275 18

Peoria, Ill. .................................................................................................................................... 3,895 71 19,489 19

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas .................................................................................................................................... 13,138 16 19,247 20

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. .................................................................................................................................... 11,318 20 18,169 21

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. .................................................................................................................................... 5,669 48 17,354 22

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. .................................................................................................................................... 11,205 21 16,755 23

Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 5,268 51 14,250 24

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. .................................................................................................................................... 9,890 25 14,010 25

Stockton, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 10,485 23 13,373 26

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. .................................................................................................................................... 8,916 30 13,189 27

Fresno, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 9,884 26 13,179 28

Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. .................................................................................................................................... 7,143 36 13,083 29

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas .................................................................................................................................... 9,038 29 12,932 30

Wichita, Kan. .................................................................................................................................... 2,225 112 12,931 31

Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz. .................................................................................................................................... 5,762 47 12,670 32

Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 7,374 35 12,412 33

Modesto, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 11,089 22 12,379 34

Jacksonville, Fla. .................................................................................................................................... 6,954 37 11,503 35

Flint, Mich. .................................................................................................................................... 11,838 19 11,275 36

Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind. .................................................................................................................................... 6,589 40 11,274 37

Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. .................................................................................................................................... 6,905 38 11,208 38

York-Hanover, Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 3,313 79 11,058 39

Toledo, Ohio .................................................................................................................................... 10,383 24 11,024 40

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. .................................................................................................................................... 2,228 111 9,889 41

Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. .................................................................................................................................... 7,387 34 9,725 42

Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. .................................................................................................................................... 5,955 43 9,664 43

Columbus, Ohio .................................................................................................................................... 5,863 44 9,281 44

Rockford, Ill. .................................................................................................................................... 7,516 33 8,770 45

Rochester, N.Y. .................................................................................................................................... 4,111 64 8,671 46

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 4,338 63 8,604 47

Erie, Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 807 214 8,348 48

Lancaster, Pa. .................................................................................................................................... 4,518 58 8,342 49

Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colo. .................................................................................................................................... 3,494 75 7,792 50

Metropolitan area

1 Metropolitan areas are ranked by the number of initial claims in 2009. 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown in 

this table are defined in U.S. Office of Management 

and Budget Bulletin 10-02, December 01, 2009.

Table 26. The 50 metropolitan areas with the largest number of initial claimants associated with extended mass layoff 

events in 2009, by residency of claimants, private nonfarm sector 

1

 Metropolitan areas are ranked by the number of initial claims in 

2009.

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown 

in this table are defined in U.S. Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 

10-02, December 01, 2010. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics 

Program
30

Table 27. Summary of employer expectations of a recall from extended mass layoffs, private nonfarm sector, 2002–09

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

ALL LAYOFF EVENTS

Anticipate a recall .......................................................................................................................................................... 41.4 43.2 51.1 56.2 52.1 49.5 41.4 34.2

Timeframe

Within 6 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 79.1 82.4 84.2 87.1 88.7 86.5 77.2 72.0

 Within 3 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 45.9 47.2 47.7 50.1 53.5 49.0 45.0 44.2

Size of recall

At least half .......................................................................................................................................................... 89.8 87.5 90.1 90.6 92.2 90.2 79.6 73.0

 All workers .......................................................................................................................................................... 41.6 43.7 47.1 47.9 49.4 49.8 38.9 33.9

LAYOFF EVENTS DUE TO SEASONAL WORK AND 

VACATION PERIOD2

Anticipate a recall .......................................................................................................................................................... 92.6 94.2 95.1 94.8 93.6 94.7 95.3 94.1

Timeframe

Within 6 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 86.7 87.5 87.8 91.5 91.0 91.6 88.8 88.3

 Within 3 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 45.1 44.5 43.0 45.6 48.2 46.6 43.5 48.8

Size of recall

At least half .......................................................................................................................................................... 96.0 95.2 96.4 96.7 96.8 96.0 92.3 90.8

 All workers .......................................................................................................................................................... 54.2 54.1 54.7 55.0 57.0 59.1 51.8 49.7

ALL LAYOFFS EVENTS, EXCLUDING THOSE DUE TO 

SEASONAL WORK AND VACATION PERIOD2

Anticipate a recall .......................................................................................................................................................... 23.5 23.4 26.6 31.6 29.4 25.1 24.4 20.5

Timeframe

Within 6 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 68.6 74.4 77.0 78.5 84.7 76.1 62.9 54.7

 Within 3 months .......................................................................................................................................................... 47.0 51.4 56.9 58.7 62.7 53.8 46.8 39.4

Size of recall

At least half .......................................................................................................................................................... 81.3 75.5 77.7 78.9 84.3 78.3 63.9 54.2

 All workers .......................................................................................................................................................... 24.5 27.3 31.9 34.3 36.2 31.0 22.9 17.2

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 See footnote 1, table 6.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Nature of recall

Percent of events1

Table 27. Summary of employer expectations of a recall from extended mass layoffs, private nonfarm sector, 2002–09 

 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1.

2

 See footnote 1, table 6.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
31

Table 28. Distribution of extended mass layoff events with expected recall, by industry and reason for layoff, private 

nonfarm sector, 2002–09

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm1 ............................................................................................................................... 41.4 43.2 51.1 56.2 52.1 49.5 41.4 34.2

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 59.0 68.6 77.5 90.9 75.0 76.9 67.3 43.9

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 31.6 27.3 46.2 53.8 72.7 55.6 36.4 52.4

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 76.5 71.9 76.7 80.2 58.9 53.8 56.4 56.4

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 33.2 38.7 43.8 48.2 45.6 43.1 36.9 28.1

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 32.0 26.6 36.2 44.1 36.9 31.6 20.5 14.7

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 19.4 25.7 27.6 31.3 29.1 29.9 19.3 11.7

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 53.3 54.8 68.7 65.3 72.3 76.0 51.9 46.7

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 10.7 9.8 12.4 17.5 26.5 23.7 9.8 4.1

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 2.0 3.4 5.1 8.2 5.0 .5 .2 1.3

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 29.4 13.6 23.1 31.6 29.4 10.7 15.7 16.8

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 30.9 32.7 42.4 46.8 52.9 40.4 31.5 22.8

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 25.0 35.0 23.8 42.9 33.3 42.9 33.3 22.2

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 37.2 31.3 34.7 42.6 41.1 56.2 41.3 31.9

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 57.9 48.1 68.8 50.0 60.9 55.6 51.2 39.0

Health care and social assistance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63.1 60.9 69.7 69.1 79.7 77.7 66.5 62.6

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 82.3 68.6 83.3 77.8 81.5 84.2 71.9 64.6

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 62.3 64.8 69.4 65.8 73.8 74.3 53.9 44.9

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 72.5 66.7 64.8 71.3 81.5 69.9 57.8 43.2

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 9.1 57.1 50.0 – – 25.0 – –

Reason for layoff2

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 39.4 40.9 44.3 48.9 43.5 39.1 40.7 33.4

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13.3 13.6 9.0 15.5 14.1 21.9 17.7 17.2

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 53.1 41.6 38.6 42.8 36.6 36.3 51.1 50.2

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 26.7 28.6 33.3

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 34.2 37.5 42.9

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9.5 5.4 7.8 5.4 9.4 2.7 5.6 4.5

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 36.8 47.8 62.0 64.8 63.0 47.6 38.6 29.1

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4.3 6.5 5.7 4.5 5.0 6.0 3.3 3.8

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3.9 5.8 4.7 1.9 4.8 3.0 3.2 3.5

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4.4 6.6 6.0 5.2 5.1 7.1 3.3 3.9

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5.5 5.1 1.9 4.0 5.0 4.4 3.8 6.6

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3.7 2.3 – 2.2 1.8 – 1.5 3.4

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 4.0 4.3 8.5

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6.3 6.7 2.7 5.2 6.1 6.1 4.4 4.6

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40.4 48.1 45.1 40.2 44.7 53.6 44.9 38.7

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40.0 – – 33.3 12.5 12.5 50.0 20.0

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33.3 – – – 100.0 – 20.0 –

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 7.1 19.0 26.7

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... 57.1 57.9 45.2 55.6 72.2 55.6 47.4 14.3

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44.4 80.0 80.0 50.0 70.0 100.0 66.7 100.0

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40.0 66.7 77.8 71.4 66.7 66.7 66.7 100.0

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 83.3 95.8 94.7 90.0 83.3 82.4 87.5 100.0

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7.1 2.9 8.6 15.0 11.1 28.6 9.1 –

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 82.0 83.6 95.7 42.9 80.6 84.4 37.9 68.4

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 66.7 60.0 50.0 100.0 25.0 – – 66.7

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 100.0 33.3 100.0 50.0 60.0 66.7 100.0 –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... 37.5 – 100.0 100.0 60.0 80.0 25.0 66.7

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... 91.9 95.8 96.8 42.5 89.6 95.5 37.3 70.0

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 92.6 94.2 95.1 94.8 93.6 94.7 95.3 94.1

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 92.3 93.9 95.0 94.5 93.3 93.5 94.3 92.9

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 97.5 98.1 97.3 100.0 98.2 99.3 99.2 98.0

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6.7 2.3 5.3 5.0 4.8 3.3 2.5 1.4

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16.7 11.8 16.8 17.0 19.1 46.3 39.3 27.0

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – – – – – –

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... .7 – – – .9 .5 .1 –

Domestic relocation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4.9 2.0 ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 )

Overseas relocation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4.4 1.6 ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) 0

 1 See footnote 1, table 1. 4 Beginning with data for 2004, these reasons for layoff are no 

 2 See footnote 1, table 6. longer used. For additional information, see the technical note.

 3 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Measure

Percent of layoff events

Table 28. Distribution of extended mass layoff events with expected recall, by industry and reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 

2002–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 6. 

3

 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data. 

4

 Beginning with data for 2004, these reasons for layoff are no longer used. 

For additional information, see the technical note.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
32

Table 29. Number of extended mass layoff events and separations after which the employer 

does not expect a recall, by industry and reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009

 Total, private nonfarm1 ........................................................................................................................................... 4,401 772,219

Industry

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. 54 8,685

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. 5 799

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 410 47,006

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 1,749 285,443

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 166 20,972

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 411 99,550

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 179 31,995

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 160 24,243

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 266 51,270

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. 41 6,139

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 188 25,193

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. 32 4,101

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 375 107,927

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 24 3,097

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 89 14,293

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 40 5,590

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 178 31,080

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 33 4,640

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. 1 196

Reason for layoff2

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,689 436,258

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 177 25,326

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 338 94,995

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 818

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44 7,261

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21 3,102

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2,101 304,756

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 527 99,770

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 104 29,499

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 423 70,271

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 959 197,013

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 165 50,474

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 538 82,584

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 256 63,955

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33 5,968

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 644

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 )

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2,328

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 )

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... – –

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... – –

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... – –

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16 2,595

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 780

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 )

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... – –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 )

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 )

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 77 15,256

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 73 14,912

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 344

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 112 17,174

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 68 11,247

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 827

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40 5,100

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 See footnote 1, table 6. 

 3 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

Measure Events Separations

Table 29. Number of extended mass layoff events and separations after which the employer does not 

expect a recall, by industry and reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2009 

1 See footnote 1, table 1.

2 See footnote 1, table 6. 

3 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure 

standards.

NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff 

Statistics Program
33

Table 30. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations by primary reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 

2005–09

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

 Total, all reasons2

 .............................................................................................................................. 560 621 594 899 1,101 ....................................... 107,399 153,718 125,836 215,647 237,821

Business demand ..................................................................................................................................................................... 104 123 139 236 406 16,704 22,977 23,426 51,480 74,058

 Contract cancellation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22 28 24 26 40 3,180 4,227 4,488 8,453 5,918

 Contract completion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 28 13 16 41 1,721 4,667 2,792 4,259 7,412

 Domestic competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 4 4 5 ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 568 1,080 595

 Excess inventory/saturated market ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 9 8 10 ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 1,373 2,064 1,069

 Import competition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 36 49 34 12 6,091 6,151 7,903 6,046 2,237

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ..................................................................................................................................................................... 35 31 40 148 298 5,712 7,932 6,302 29,578 56,827

Organizational changes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 227 274 172 223 193 43,418 78,219 30,647 50,435 41,430

 Business-ownership change ..................................................................................................................................................................... 46 70 57 50 45 8,651 23,548 11,341 16,379 12,902

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ..................................................................................................................................................................... 181 204 115 173 148 34,767 54,671 19,306 34,056 28,528

Financial issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 144 143 241 373 432 32,990 34,122 63,340 97,787 109,747

 Bankruptcy ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 41 51 113 134 16,654 13,207 15,103 31,779 42,348

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 81 103 131 ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 18,087 18,010 24,382

 Financial difficulty ..................................................................................................................................................................... 85 102 109 157 167 16,336 20,915 30,150 47,998 43,017

Production specific ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20 15 ( 4

 ) 26 16 3,482 4,943 ( 4 ) 7,145 3,651

 Automation/technological advances ..................................................................................................................................................................... – ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) 3 – – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) 562 –

 Energy related ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 4

 ) – ( 4 ) 3 – ( 4 ) – ( 4 ) 510 –

 Governmental regulations/intervention ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 5 12 ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) 1,575 4,254 ( 4 )

 Labor dispute/contract negotiations/strike ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) – ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 Material or supply shortage ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 4

 ) – – 3 – ( 4 ) – – 291 –

 Model changeover ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – – – – – – – –

 Plant or machine repair/maintenance ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – ( 4

 ) – – – – ( 4 ) –

 Product line discontinued ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16 11 ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) 8 2,699 4,342 ( 4 ) ( 4 ) 1,386

Disaster/safety ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 5 ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) 2,353 1,743 ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 Hazardous work environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... – ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) – ( 4 ) – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) – ( 4

 )

 Natural disaster (not weather related) ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) – – – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) – – –

 Non-natural disaster ..................................................................................................................................................................... – ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) – – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) –

 Extreme weather-related event ..................................................................................................................................................................... ( 4

 ) – – ( 4 ) ( 4 ) ( 4 ) – – ( 4 ) ( 4 )

Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 8 – ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) 585 513 – ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 Seasonal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 8 – ( 4

 ) ( 4 ) 585 513 – ( 4 ) ( 4 )

 Vacation period–school related or otherwise ..................................................................................................................................................................... – – – – – – – – – –

Other/miscellaneous ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44 53 30 34 49 7,867 11,201 4,796 6,109 7,768

 Other ..................................................................................................................................................................... 31 38 11 16 32 5,593 8,458 1,634 2,924 5,471

 Data not provided: Refusal ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3 4 4 6 2 490 582 661 1,225 204

 Data not provided: Does not know ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 11 15 12 15 1,784 2,161 2,501 1,960 2,093

 1 See footnote 1, table 6. 4 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1. For additional information, see the technical note.

 3 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Reason for layoff1

Layoff events Separations

Table 30. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations by primary reason for layoff, private nonfarm sector, 2005–09

 

1

 See footnote 1, table 6. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

3

 Use of this reason began with first–quarter 2007 data.

4

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. For additional information, 

see the technical note. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
34

Table 31. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations by major industry sector, 

private nonfarm sector, 2005–09

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

 Total, private nonfarm1

 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 560 621 594 899 1,101 107,399 153,718 125,836 215,647 237,821

Mining ............................................................................................................................................. ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) 6 ( 2 ) 19 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,184 ( 2 ) 4,154

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................. – – – ( 2

 ) – – – – ( 2 ) –

Construction ............................................................................................................................................. 24 18 6 30 34 3,270 1,377 2,083 4,783 5,109

Manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................. 249 314 289 382 480 48,184 67,228 56,264 83,487 91,476

Wholesale trade ............................................................................................................................................. 17 21 26 41 51 2,491 4,265 4,103 6,591 7,881

Retail trade ............................................................................................................................................. 74 81 63 145 214 17,318 40,784 19,771 51,381 66,679

Transportation and warehousing ............................................................................................................................................. 25 23 16 50 59 4,965 7,852 3,209 15,844 12,125

Information ............................................................................................................................................. 15 30 12 20 29 2,906 6,537 1,623 3,059 4,838

Finance and insurance ............................................................................................................................................. 27 34 86 69 49 5,119 5,510 16,164 11,367 11,303

Real estate and rental and leasing ............................................................................................................................................. ( 2

 ) 3 4 7 11 ( 2 ) 296 532 981 2,645

Professional and technical services ............................................................................................................................................. 8 17 11 18 28 1,503 2,970 1,831 3,729 5,211

Management of companies and enterprises ............................................................................................................................................. ( 2

 ) 3 4 7 7 ( 2 ) 367 811 1,415 1,098

Administrative and waste services ............................................................................................................................................. 29 24 20 37 44 5,609 5,226 3,913 9,073 9,621

Educational services ............................................................................................................................................. 5 ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 5 568 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 527

Health care and social assistance ............................................................................................................................................. 31 16 24 28 25 5,818 3,109 8,351 9,337 4,412

Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................................................................................................................................. 8 3 ( 2

 ) 8 7 1,208 320 ( 2 ) 2,100 1,529

Accommodation and food services ............................................................................................................................................. 28 20 13 44 29 4,935 6,150 3,296 10,789 7,292

Other services, except public administration ............................................................................................................................................. 15 11 9 6 10 2,517 1,387 1,814 660 1,921

Unclassified establishments ............................................................................................................................................. – – 1 – – – – 538 – –

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Industry

Layoffs Separations

Table 31. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations by major industry sector, private nonfarm sector, 2005–09 

 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

 NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 
35

Table 32. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest 

ranking three-digit NAICS industries in 2009

Permanent closures

Events Separations Rank1 Events Separations Rank1

 Total, private nonfarm2 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 899 215,647 ... 1,101 237,821 ...

Total, 50 highest ranking industries ...................................................................................................................................................................................... ... 831 203,781 ... 1,010 224,553 ...

Electronics and appliance stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 443 9 5,278 14 33 23,489 1

Transportation equipment manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 336 76 20,471 2 82 20,452 2

General merchandise stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 452 43 20,680 1 48 16,742 3

Administrative and support services ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 561 37 9,073 5 43 9,528 4

Credit intermediation and related activities ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 522 60 10,032 3 37 9,132 5

Food manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 311 28 7,472 8 32 8,015 6

Machinery manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 333 15 2,630 29 30 6,362 7

Computer and electronic product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 334 28 5,770 13 40 6,103 8

Clothing and clothing accessories stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 448 14 3,820 18 30 5,921 9

Wood product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 321 29 5,915 12 33 5,709 10

Professional and technical services ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 541 18 3,729 21 28 5,211 11

Merchant wholesalers, durable goods ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 423 19 3,219 23 31 5,072 12

Fabricated metal product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 332 20 3,226 22 31 4,844 13

Food services and drinking places ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 722 40 9,409 4 16 4,681 14

Plastics and rubber products manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 326 26 6,200 10 30 4,635 15

Food and beverage stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 445 12 7,760 7 26 4,509 16

Furniture and related product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 337 20 4,334 17 28 4,361 17

Primary metal manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 331 18 3,770 19 20 4,181 18

Electrical equipment and appliance mfg. ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 335 15 3,732 20 17 4,106 19

Apparel manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 315 14 2,260 30 23 4,032 20

Building material and garden supply stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 444 9 1,715 35 15 3,777 21

Printing and related support activities ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 323 11 1,846 31 22 3,673 22

Furniture and home furnishings stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 442 16 6,914 9 12 3,618 23

Truck transportation ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 484 21 4,886 16 19 3,456 24

Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 451 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 61 13 2,924 25

Couriers and messengers ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 492 7 6,025 11 6 2,800 26

Mining, except oil and gas ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 212 – – 73 12 2,732 27

Textile mills ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 313 20 5,119 15 14 2,632 28

Accommodation ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 721 4 1,380 37 13 2,611 29

Chemical manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 325 14 2,814 28 18 2,590 30

Publishing industries, except Internet ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 511 11 1,257 38 16 2,548 31

Hospitals ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 622 17 7,972 6 7 2,542 32

Paper manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 322 18 2,905 27 21 2,431 33

Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 424 18 2,925 26 15 2,417 34

Warehousing and storage ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 493 5 779 49 12 2,289 35

Miscellaneous manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 339 7 853 47 12 2,182 36

Construction of buildings ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 236 10 1,728 34 12 2,180 37

Health and personal care stores ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 446 3 574 52 5 2,088 38

Real estate ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 531 3 692 51 6 2,075 39

Insurance carriers and related activities ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 524 8 1,210 40 9 1,862 40

Specialty trade contractors ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 238 13 1,826 32 15 1,695 41

Telecommunications ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 517 5 1,060 42 9 1,674 42

Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 327 9 1,764 33 12 1,467 43

Transit and ground passenger transportation ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 485 5 818 48 9 1,452 44

Support activities for mining ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 213 ( 3

 ) ( 3 ) 57 7 1,422 45

Textile product mills ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 314 6 971 46 7 1,344 46

Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 312 5 1,003 45 3 1,299 47

Nonstore retailers ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 454 8 1,058 43 8 1,243 48

Heavy and civil engineering construction ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 237 7 1,229 39 7 1,234 49

Motor vehicle and parts dealers ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 441 26 3,074 25 16 1,211 50

 1 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009.

 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

 3 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Industry NAICS 2008 2009

Table 32. Permanent worksite closures: extended mass layoff events and separations, private nonfarm sector, 50 highest ranking three-digit 

NAICS industries in 2009 

1

 Industries are ranked by the number of separations in 2009. 

2

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

3

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
36

Table 33. Permanent worksite closures: over-the-year comparisons of extended mass layoff events 

and separations by State, private nonfarm sector, 2008–09

2008 2009 Change 2008 2009 Change

 Total, private nonfarm1 ................................................................................................................... 899 1,101 202 215,647 237,821 22,174

Alabama ................................................................................................................... 20 21 1 5,502 4,676 -826

Alaska ................................................................................................................... – ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) ( 2 )

Arizona ................................................................................................................... 5 11 6 1,900 2,441 541

Arkansas ................................................................................................................... 11 8 -3 1,826 1,938 112

California ................................................................................................................... 177 184 7 41,834 46,854 5,020

Colorado ................................................................................................................... 11 11 – 3,201 2,359 -842

Connecticut ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 12 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 2,664 ( 2 )

Delaware ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 5 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,579 ( 2 )

District of Columbia ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 ) ( 2 )

Florida ................................................................................................................... 97 115 18 27,071 19,830 -7,241

Georgia ................................................................................................................... 58 57 -1 9,129 11,082 1,953

Hawaii ................................................................................................................... – 3 3 – 319 319

Idaho ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 3 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 648 ( 2 )

Illinois ................................................................................................................... 55 75 20 12,672 13,295 623

Indiana ................................................................................................................... 41 40 -1 10,035 9,681 -354

Iowa ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 12 2 1,839 1,508 -331

Kansas ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 5 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 628 ( 2 )

Kentucky ................................................................................................................... 22 25 3 3,211 4,085 874

Louisiana ................................................................................................................... 5 7 2 649 1,906 1,257

Maine ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 5 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 697 ( 2 )

Maryland ................................................................................................................... 6 6 – 861 937 76

Massachusetts ................................................................................................................... 14 17 3 2,011 2,907 896

Michigan ................................................................................................................... 26 20 -6 5,932 3,216 -2,716

Minnesota ................................................................................................................... 5 6 1 976 1,055 79

Mississippi ................................................................................................................... 14 13 -1 3,558 2,807 -751

Missouri ................................................................................................................... 25 34 9 6,363 5,169 -1,194

Montana ................................................................................................................... 5 4 -1 499 333 -166

Nebraska ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 4 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,266 ( 2 )

Nevada ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9 10 1 2,680 2,351 -329

New Hampshire ..................................................................................................................................................................... – 4 4 – 979 979

New Jersey ..................................................................................................................................................................... 44 36 -8 9,926 7,978 -1,948

New Mexico ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 7 – 916 1,181 265

New York ................................................................................................................... 25 47 22 8,680 10,503 1,823

North Carolina ................................................................................................................... 26 45 19 4,685 6,352 1,667

North Dakota ................................................................................................................... – – – – – –

Ohio ................................................................................................................... 67 54 -13 22,651 11,203 -11,448

Oklahoma ................................................................................................................... 3 9 6 2,460 2,266 -194

Oregon ................................................................................................................... 8 8 – 1,112 1,156 44

Pennsylvania ................................................................................................................... 9 28 19 1,362 12,887 11,525

Rhode Island ................................................................................................................... 4 5 1 527 471 -56

South Carolina ................................................................................................................... 7 9 2 1,479 930 -549

South Dakota ................................................................................................................... – ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) ( 2 )

Tennessee ................................................................................................................... 11 24 13 1,304 3,528 2,224

Texas ................................................................................................................... 45 28 -17 11,940 10,677 -1,263

Utah ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 7 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 1,900 ( 2 )

Vermont ................................................................................................................... – ( 2

 ) ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) ( 2 )

Virginia ................................................................................................................... 3 17 14 802 3,535 2,733

Washington ................................................................................................................... 4 19 15 549 4,657 4,108

West Virginia ................................................................................................................... ( 2

 ) 9 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) 2,328 ( 2 )

Wisconsin ................................................................................................................... 6 25 19 2,402 7,873 5,471

Wyoming ................................................................................................................... – – – – – –

 1 See footnote 1, table 1.

 2 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

State

Layoffs Separations

Table 33. Permanent worksite closures: over-the-year comparisons of extended mass layoff events and 

separations by State, private nonfarm sector, 2008–09 

1

 See footnote 1, table 1. 

2

 Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics 

Program 
37

Table 34. Permanent worksite closures: The 25 metropolitan areas with the largest number of initial claimants associated with

extended mass layoff events in 2009, by residency of claimants, private nonfarm sector

Initial claims Rank1 Initial claims Rank1

 Total, 372 metropolitan areas2 ................................................................................................................................................................................................

152,724 ... 158,401 ...

 Total, 25 highest ranking metropolitan areas ............................................................................................................................................................................... 89,043 ... 87,737 ...

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15,744 1 12,313 1

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7,829 3 8,799 2

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 8,557 2 6,425 3

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4,720 6 6,105 4

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7,085 4 5,913 5

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 6,549 5 5,574 6

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3,555 8 4,623 7

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3,311 10 3,726 8

Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3,269 11 2,739 9

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2,011 16 2,716 10

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 306 93 2,624 11

Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2,689 12 2,513 12

San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3,446 9 2,434 13

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 499 58 2,309 14

St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2,360 15 2,203 15

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2,438 14 2,192 16

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1,640 21 2,095 17

Dalton, Ga. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3,689 7 2,027 18

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 513 57 1,602 19

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1,424 24 1,515 20

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2,656 13 1,500 21

Janesville, Wis. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1,601 22 1,494 22

Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 465 65 1,491 23

Columbus, Ohio ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1,797 20 1,451 24

Jacksonville, Fla. ............................................................................................................................................................................... 890 38 1,354 25

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Metropolitan Area

2008 2009

1 Metropolitan areas are ranked by the number of initial claimants in 2009. 2 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown in this

table are defined in U.S. Office of Management and Budget 

Bulletin 10-02, December 1, 2009. Dash represents zero.

Table 34. Permanent worksite closures: The 25 metropolitan areas with the largest number of initial claimants associated with extended mass layoff 

events in 2009, by residency of claimants, private nonfarm sector 

1

 Metropolitan areas are ranked by the number of initial claimants in 2009.

2

 See footnote 1, table 1.

NOTE: The geographic boundaries of the metropolitan areas shown in this table 

are defined in U.S. Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 10-02, December 1, 

2009. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
38

Table 35. Selected business functions involved in nonseasonal extended mass layoff events, 2008–09 (Number of reports)

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

Total 2

 ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12,177 18,865 4,435 6,634 7,742 12,231

Producing goods/providing services

Construction activities ................................................................................................................................... 1,187 1,513 1,125 1,426 62 87

Producing goods ................................................................................................................................... 1,549 2,345 1,414 2,173 135 172

Providing services ................................................................................................................................... 189 347 82 193 107 154

Accounting services ................................................................................................................................... 228 414 26 31 202 383

Contracted services ................................................................................................................................... 216 436 160 325 56 111

Engineering services ................................................................................................................................... 161 397 22 93 139 304

Entertainment services ................................................................................................................................... 55 93 50 76 5 17

Facility maintenance services ................................................................................................................................... 394 590 17 34 377 556

Financial management ................................................................................................................................... 64 129 4 10 60 119

Financial services ................................................................................................................................... 162 187 117 119 45 68

Food and cafeteria services ................................................................................................................................... 165 182 89 70 76 112

Health care services ................................................................................................................................... 66 100 60 73 6 27

Housekeeping services ................................................................................................................................... 54 133 10 24 44 109

Lodging services ................................................................................................................................... 72 98 28 56 44 42

Maintaining and repairing products ................................................................................................................................... 129 156 28 39 101 117

Security services ................................................................................................................................... 55 56 18 24 37 32

Assembling products ................................................................................................................................... 393 554 195 236 198 318

Fabricating ................................................................................................................................... 263 544 137 408 126 136

Quality assurance/quality control ................................................................................................................................... 263 490 1 3 262 487

Supervision--first line or direct ................................................................................................................................... 495 853 3 3 492 850

Procurement, logistics, distribution

Buying ................................................................................................................................... 93 163 1 4 92 159

Distribution ................................................................................................................................... 246 290 65 60 181 230

Packing ................................................................................................................................... 166 228 14 18 152 210

Receiving ................................................................................................................................... 227 342 2 1 225 341

Shipping ................................................................................................................................... 373 590 30 56 343 534

Transporting ................................................................................................................................... 280 374 99 120 181 254

Warehousing ................................................................................................................................... 332 466 68 73 264 393

General management and firm infrastructure

Administrative and clerical support ................................................................................................................................... 1,381 2,100 76 103 1,305 1,997

General management ................................................................................................................................... 610 1,050 36 52 574 998

Human resource management

Human resources, including recruiting ................................................................................................................................... 407 619 5 5 402 614

Payroll and compensation ................................................................................................................................... 174 190 5 3 169 187

Training ................................................................................................................................... 24 44 – 7 24 37

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

Advertising ................................................................................................................................... 31 71 5 21 26 50

Billing ................................................................................................................................... 83 123 – – 83 123

Marketing ................................................................................................................................... 129 214 15 12 114 202

Order processing ................................................................................................................................... 140 221 10 10 130 211

Selling ................................................................................................................................... 369 622 203 371 166 251

Telemarketing ................................................................................................................................... 19 28 10 17 9 11

Customer and after-sales service

Call center activities ................................................................................................................................... 85 136 55 83 30 53

Customer service ................................................................................................................................... 373 534 48 63 325 471

Installing products ................................................................................................................................... 55 64 15 10 40 54

Technical support ................................................................................................................................... 75 155 3 8 72 147

Technology and process development

Computer systems development ................................................................................................................................... 20 43 12 11 8 32

Computer systems maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 36 62 4 3 32 59

Data processing ................................................................................................................................... 48 65 3 4 45 61

Internet web services ................................................................................................................................... 10 17 2 5 8 12

Software development and testing ................................................................................................................................... 28 53 8 19 20 34

Software and IT services ................................................................................................................................... 118 224 21 25 97 199

Other business functions ....................................................................... 85 160 34 54 51 106

Other

Events with nonstandard functions reported ................................................................................................................................... 628 797 396 543 232 254

Refusal 3 ................................................................................................................................... 21 31 21 31 – –

Does not know 4 ................................................................................................................................... 174 135 174 135 – –

 1 Business functions reported in this table were the most frequently cited functions in 2007. Functions are grouped by business process without regard 

to the industry of the establishment. Therefore, the process "operations" does not appear. 

 2 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

 3 Excludes events in which the employer refused to participate in any part of the employer interview.

 4 Excludes events in which contact with the employer was not possible.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Selected business functions by business process 1

Total Main Secondary

1

 Business functions reported in this table were the most frequently cited 

functions in 2007. Functions are grouped by business process without regard 

to the industry of the establishment. Therefore, the process "operations" does 

not appear. 

2

 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

3

 Excludes events in which the employer refused to participate in any part 

of the employer interview. 

4

 Excludes events in which contact with the employer was not possible.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

 

 

Table 35. Selected business functions involved in nonseasonal extended mass layoff events, 2008–09 

(Number of reports) 
39

Table 36. Business processes involved in extended mass layoff events, by reason for layoff, 2008–09

Procurement, 

logistics, 

distribution

Operations Product 

development

Marketing, 

sales, account 

management

Customer 

and aftersales 

service

General 

managem

ent and 

firm 

infrastruct

Human 

resource 

management

Technolog

y and 

process 

developm

ent

2009

Total business process ............................................................................................................... 11,827 14,823 1,148 8,920 398 629 533 2,123 619 453

 Business demand ............................................................................................................... 5,404 7,981 522 5,155 192 251 197 1,098 316 250

 Contract cancellation ............................................................................................................... 250 433 29 231 10 13 16 83 22 29

 Contract completion ............................................................................................................... 1,210 1,435 52 1,171 14 22 18 99 36 23

 Domestic competition ............................................................................................................... 12 25 1 12 – 2 2 4 2 2

 Excess inventory/saturated market ............................................................................................................... 84 150 28 80 10 6 4 14 2 6

 Import competition ............................................................................................................... 22 60 10 22 2 3 1 11 6 5

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ............................................................................................................... 3,826 5,878 402 3,639 156 205 156 887 248 185

 Organizational changes ............................................................................................................... 573 1,241 121 481 37 90 79 274 99 60

 Business-ownership change ............................................................................................................... 113 251 21 98 5 16 17 57 25 12

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ............................................................................................................... 460 990 100 383 32 74 62 217 74 48

 Financial issues ............................................................................................................... 1,075 2,375 247 948 106 196 141 463 159 115

 Bankruptcy ............................................................................................................... 178 478 56 158 8 50 44 97 49 16

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ............................................................................................................... 615 1,253 128 534 74 104 55 241 54 63

 Financial difficulty ............................................................................................................... 282 644 63 256 24 42 42 125 56 36

 Production specific ............................................................................................................... 62 129 14 60 6 6 5 24 8 6

 Disaster/Safety ............................................................................................................... 19 24 2 18 2 – – 2 – –

 Seasonal ............................................................................................................... 2,211 2,782 225 2,108 45 75 92 213 19 5

 Other/Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................... 2,483 291 17 150 10 11 19 49 18 17

2008

Total business process ............................................................................................................... 8,259 10,432 792 6,384 269 434 403 1,486 444 220

 Business demand ............................................................................................................... 3,388 4,776 310 3,197 141 161 97 613 169 88

 Contract cancellation ............................................................................................................... 141 243 18 135 8 11 7 42 14 8

 Contract completion ............................................................................................................... 946 1,040 25 917 9 12 10 49 8 10

 Domestic competition ............................................................................................................... 7 13 3 7 1 1 – 1 – –

 Excess inventory/saturated market ............................................................................................................... 40 88 11 39 6 7 3 15 5 2

 Import competition ............................................................................................................... 54 135 26 53 4 4 4 27 11 6

 Slack work/insufficient demand/non-seasonal

 business slowdown ............................................................................................................... 2,200 3,257 227 2,046 113 126 73 479 131 62

 Organizational changes ............................................................................................................... 517 1,107 119 406 29 62 86 253 93 59

 Business-ownership change ............................................................................................................... 93 190 21 72 7 15 9 47 14 5

 Reorganization or restructuring of company ............................................................................................................... 424 917 98 334 22 47 77 206 79 54

 Financial issues ............................................................................................................... 763 1,699 175 660 50 132 112 367 143 60

 Bankruptcy ............................................................................................................... 136 352 36 123 8 25 30 74 44 12

 Cost control/cost cutting/increase profitability ............................................................................................................... 352 713 71 291 21 59 37 166 38 30

 Financial difficulty ............................................................................................................... 275 634 68 246 21 48 45 127 61 18

 Production specific ............................................................................................................... 107 185 20 102 9 5 7 28 8 6

 Disaster/Safety ............................................................................................................... 58 51 4 31 3 3 1 6 3 –

 Seasonal ............................................................................................................... 1,982 2,432 155 1,881 32 62 95 183 22 2

 Other/Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................... 1,444 182 9 107 5 9 5 36 6 5

 1 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Reason

Extended 

mass layoff 

events

Total 

business 

processes

Core processes Support processes

Table 36. Business processes involved in extended mass layoff events, by reason for layoff, 2008–09 

 

1

 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program
40

Table 37. Number of business processes affected in nonseasonal extended mass layoffs, 2008–09

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

Total, private nonfarm

Core Processes ................................................................................................... 6,057 9,083 4,627 6,956 1,430 2,127

 Procurement, logistics, and distribution ................................................. 637 923 65 69 572 854

 Operations ................................................................................................... 4,503 6,812 4,381 6,659 122 153

 Product development .............................................................................................................................................. 237 353 49 32 188 321

 Marketing, sales, and account management ................................................. 372 554 84 127 288 427

 Customer and after-sales service ................................................. 308 441 48 69 260 372

Support Processes ................................................................................................... 1,943 2,958 202 221 1,741 2,737

 General management and firm infrastructure ................................................. 1,303 1,910 146 152 1,157 1,758

 Human resources management ................................................. 422 600 30 30 392 570

 Technology and process development ................................................. 218 448 26 39 192 409

Business Function not provided 2 ................................................. 197 166 197 166 – –

Goods-producing industries

Core Processes ................................................................................................... 3,749 5,428 2,930 4,259 819 1,169

 Procurement, logistics, and distribution ................................................. 432 591 29 20 403 571

 Operations .............................................................................................................................................. 2,891 4,246 2,847 4,205 44 41

 Product development .............................................................................................................................................. 182 246 30 11 152 235

 Marketing, sales, and account management ................................................. 145 210 21 19 124 191

 Customer and after-sales service ................................................. 99 135 3 4 96 131

Support Processes ................................................................................................... 1,045 1,663 42 50 1,003 1,613

 General management and firm infrastructure ................................................. 671 1,042 35 35 636 1,007

 Human resources management ................................................. 231 328 – 1 231 327

 Technology and process development ................................................. 143 293 7 14 136 279

Business Function not provided 2 ................................................. 47 48 47 48 – –

Service-providing industries

Core Processes ................................................................................................... 2,308 3,655 1,697 2,697 611 958

 Procurement, logistics, and distribution ................................................. 205 332 36 49 169 283

 Operations .............................................................................................................................................. 1,612 2,566 1,534 2,454 78 112

 Product development .............................................................................................................................................. 55 107 19 21 36 86

 Marketing, sales, and account management ................................................. 227 344 63 108 164 236

 Customer and after-sales service ................................................. 209 306 45 65 164 241

Support Processes ................................................................................................... 898 1,295 160 171 738 1,124

 General management and firm infrastructure ................................................. 632 868 111 117 521 751

 Human resources management ................................................. 191 272 30 29 161 243

 Technology and process development ................................................. 75 155 19 25 56 130

Business Function not provided 2 ................................................. 150 118 150 118 – –

 1 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

 2 The number of events for which respondents were unable or refused to provide a Business Function response. Layoff events where

employer contact could not be made or where employers refused to participate in the employer interview are not included.

 NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program

Business Processes

Total Main Secondary

1

 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

2

 The number of events for which respondents were unable or refused to 

provide a Business Function response. Layoff events where employer contact 

could not be made or where employers refused to participate in the employer 

interview are not included. 

NOTE: Dash represents zero.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics Program 

Table 37. Number of business processes affected in nonseasonal extended mass layoffs, 2008–09 

 

Business Processes

Total Main Secondary

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009
41

Technical Note

The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program is a FederalState 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 (UI) database. Establishments that have at least 

50 initial claims for unemployment insurance filed against them 

during a consecutive 5-week period are contacted by the State 

agency to determine whether these separations are of at least 31 

days duration, and, if so, information is obtained on the total number of persons separated and the reasons for these separations. 

Establishments are identified according to industry classification 

and location; unemployment insurance claimants are identified 

by such demographic factors as age, race, sex, ethnic group, and 

place of residence. The MLS program yields information on an 

individual’s entire spell of unemployment, to the point at which 

regular unemployment insurance benefits are exhausted.

Beginning with data for 2004, the scope of extended mass layoffs and plant closings was redefined to cover only the private 

nonfarm economy. Therefore, extended mass layoff information 

for agriculture and Government are no longer collected. With 

the release of the extended mass layoff data from the first quarter 

of 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) introduced 

improvements to the presentation of data on economic reasons for 

extended mass layoffs. Thus, reason data beginning with the first 

quarter of 2007 are not strictly comparable to data from previous 

quarters. This report uses the new metropolitan area definitions as 

published in the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin 10-

02 and the 2007 North American Industry Classification System 

(NAICS) definitions. 

Definitions

Clothing manufacturing and distribution. Industries involved 

in the production and distribution of clothing. These industries 

include textile mills, apparel manufacturing, footwear manufacturing, apparel and piece goods merchant wholesalers, clothing 

stores, shoe stores, department stores, and formal wear and costume rental.

Continued claim. A claim filed after the initial claim, by mail, 

telephone, or in person, for waiting-period credit or payment for 

a certified week of unemployment. The MLS program collects 

continued claims for 1 week each month. That is generally the 

calendar week that includes the 12th day of the month and is referred to as the Current Population Survey (CPS) reference week. 

Because continued claims are not tracked for all weeks, an exact 

measure of insured jobless duration is not available.

Establishment. A unit at a single physical location at which predominantly one type of economic activity is conducted.

Extended layoff event. Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits from an establishment during a 5-week 

period, with at least 50 workers separated for more than 30 days.

Final payment recipients. Persons who have exhausted all of their 

unemployment insurance benefits and are no longer eligible for 

any further benefits.

Food processing and distribution. Industries that are involved in 

the production and distribution of food. These industries include 

food manufacturing, beverage manufacturing, grocery and related 

product wholesalers, farm product raw material merchant wholesalers, alcoholic beverage merchant wholesalers, farm supplies 

merchant wholesalers, food and beverage stores, food (health) 

supplement stores, refrigerated warehousing and storage, farm 

product warehousing and storage, veterinary services, and food 

services and drinking places.

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.

Layoff. The separation of persons from an employer as part of a 

mass layoff event. (See below.) Such layoffs involve both persons 

who are subject to recall and those who are terminated.

Mass layoff. Fifty or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits from an establishment beginning in a given month, 

regardless of the duration of the layoff.

Movement-of-work action. Employer-confirmed relocation of 

work within the same company or to other companies, domestically or outside the United States. Because employers may cite 

more than one location to which work is moving, a layoff event 

may have more than one action associated with it.

Movement-of-work separations. The number of separations specifically associated with movement-of-work actions.

Separations. The total number of people laid off in an extended 

mass layoff event for more than 30 days, according to the employer.

Worksite closure. The full closure of either multi-unit or singleunit establishments or the partial closure of a multi-unit establishment where entire worksites affected by layoffs are closed or 

planned to be closed with no employer expectation of recall.

Movement-of-work concepts and questions

Because of the employer interview component, BLS decided to 
42

use the MLS program as a vehicle for collecting additional information on offshoring and outsourcing associated with job loss, by 

adding questions that address movement of work. The term “moving work” means that the company experiencing the layoff has 

reassigned work activities that were performed at a worksite by 

the company’s employees (1) to another worksite within the company; (2) to another company under formal arrangements at the 

same worksite; or (3) to another company under formal arrangements at another worksite. The type of work activities subject to 

movement can include accounting, customer service, cleaning, 

warehousing, and so forth.

“Overseas relocation” is the movement of work from within 

the United States to locations outside of the United States. Overseas relocation can occur within the same company and involve 

movement of work to a different location of that company outside 

of the United States, or to a different company altogether. “Domestic relocation” is the movement of work to other locations inside the United States, either within the same company or to a different company. Overseas relocation and domestic relocation are 

no longer used in the same way as they were in earlier extended 

mass layoff reports. Therefore, the data presented in this report 

are not comparable to those that were presented in earlier reports. 

Questions on movement of work and location are asked for all 

identified layoff events when the reason for separation is other 

than seasonal work or vacation period. Seasonal and vacation 

layoff events were excluded because movement of work appears 

unlikely. The State analyst asks questions on movement of work 

after he or she has verified that a layoff in fact occurred and lasted 

more than 30 days, and has obtained the total number of workers 

separated from jobs, the date the layoff began, and the economic 

reason for the layoff. If the reason for layoff is other than seasonal 

or vacation, the employer is asked the following: 

(1) Did this layoff include your company moving work from 

this location(s) to a different geographic location(s) within your 

company?

(2) Did this layoff include your company moving work that 

was performed in-house by your employees to a different company, through contractual arrangements?

If the respondent answers “yes” to either question, the analyst follows up by asking, “Is the location inside or outside of the 

United States?” and “How many of the layoffs were a result of 

this relocation?”

Layoff actions are classified as overseas relocation if the employer responds “yes” to questions 1 and/or 2, and indicates that the 

location(s) was outside of the United States. Domestic relocation 

is determined if the employer responds yes to questions 1 and/or 2 

and indicates that the location(s) was within the United States. After 

asking the movement-of-work questions, the employer interview 

continues and the analyst obtains responses for questions on recall 

expectations and open/closed status of the worksite.

The MLS program uses a range to report separations associated with movement of work. The data provided by respondents on 

the number of separations associated with specific movement-ofwork actions establish a lower bound. The upper bound is the total 

number of separations in extended mass layoff events in which 

there was some movement of work. The difference between the 

lower and upper bounds includes an unknown number of separations that were not due to movement of work and an unknown 

number of separations from movement-of-work actions where 

employers could not provide detail.

Business functions and business processes

Business functions are the specific activities that a firm performs 

in order to produce its products or provide its services. During the 

MLS interview, employers are asked to identify all the functions 

performed by the workers who were laid off. Thus, the collection 

of business function allows for a broader assessment of the impact 

of the layoffs than the industry classification alone. 

Many different business functions have been reported by employers. In order to better understand how these functions are involved in the firm’s operations, a set of eight business processes 

was identified that defines the full range of activities a firm engages in to conduct its business. All functions can be assigned 

to a process, depending upon the industry of the establishment. 

The eight processes are grouped into core business processes and 

support business processes. Thus, it is possible to report both the 

number of business functions and business processes affected by 

extended mass layoffs over time and cross tabulate the data using other information such as reason for layoff and industry. For 

a more complete description of the collection and definition of 

business function and processes in the MLS program, see the article “Business Processes and Business Functions: a new way of 

looking at employment” from the December 2008 issue of the 

Monthly Labor Review̃ୋ块卖ᴒቚ婚ᅅ佖ᅊ剙ቒ単䔒偏唒ᔓጛሔᔒ

art3full.pdf). 

Reliability of the data

The identification of establishments and layoff events in the MLS 

program and associated characteristics of claimants is based on 

administrative data on covered establishments and unemployment 

insurance claims, and, therefore, is not subject to issues associated 

with sampling error. Nonsampling errors such as typographical 

errors may occur but are not likely to be significant. While the 

MLS establishments and layoff events are not subject to sampling 

error, and all such employers are asked the employer interview 

questions, the employer responses are subject to nonsampling 

error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including 

the inability to obtain information for all respondents, inability or 

unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and 

errors made in the collection or processing of the data. For 2009, 

outright refusal to participate in the employer interview accounted 

for 4.6 percent of all private nonfarm events. Employers in 174 

instances were included in the total number of actions entailing 

movement of work, but were unable to provide the number of 

separations specifically associated with the movement of work. 

Out-of-country moves were involved in 44 of these instances.

Material in this report is in the public domain and, with appropriate credit, may be used without permission. The information 

in this report is available to sensory-impaired individuals upon 

request. Voice phone: (202) 691-7828; Federal Relay Service: 1 

(800) 877-8339. Email address: mlsinfo@bls.gov.