For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, June 20, 2012 USDL-12-1245 

Technical information: (202) 691-6392 • mlsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/mls 

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov 

MASS LAYOFFS — MAY 2012 

Employers took 1,380 mass layoff actions in May involving 130,191 workers, seasonally adjusted, as 

measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics reported today. Each mass layoff involved at least 50 workers from a single employer. 

Mass layoff events in May decreased by 8 from April, and the number of associated initial claims 

decreased by 5,409. Year-to-date mass layoff events (6,768) and initial claims (636,484) both recorded 

their lowest figures since 2007. In May, 264 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing 

sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 29,675 initial claims. (See table 1.) 

The national unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May, essentially unchanged from the prior month 

but down from 9.0 percent a year earlier. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 69,000 over 

the month and by 1,782,000 over the year. 

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

The number of mass layoff events in May was 1,201, not seasonally adjusted, resulting in 109,259 initial 

claims for unemployment insurance. (See table 2.) Over the year, the number of average weekly mass 

layoff events decreased by 42 to 300, while associated average weekly initial claims decreased by 2,663 

to 27,315. Thirteen of the 19 major industry sectors in the private economy reported over-the-year 

decreases in average weekly initial claims, with the largest decrease occurring in manufacturing. (See 

0.0

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4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

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50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

May‐01 May‐02 May‐03 May‐04 May‐05 May‐06 May‐07 May‐08 May‐09 May‐10 May‐11 May‐12

Initial Claims Unemployment Rate

Total masslayoffinitial claims Manufacturingmasslayoffinitial claims Unemploymentrate

Chart 1. Masslayoff initial claims and unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, May 2001‐May 2012   
- 2 - 

table 3.) In May 2012, the six-digit industry with the largest number of private nonfarm initial claims 

was food service contractors. (See table A.) 

In May 2012, the manufacturing sector accounted for 17 percent of mass layoff events and 19 percent of 

associated initial claims in the private economy. Within manufacturing, the numbers of mass layoff 

claimants were highest in food and in transportation equipment. Sixteen of the 21 manufacturing 

subsectors experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly initial claims, with the largest 

decrease occurring in food manufacturing. (See table 3.) 

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

Among the census regions, the South registered the largest number of initial claims in May. Two of the 

4 regions experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly initial claims, with the largest decrease 

occurring in the South. (See table 4.) 

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of mass layoff initial claims in May, followed 

by Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, and Texas. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia 

experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly initial claims, led by Alabama, Mississippi, 

Ohio, and Florida. (See table 4.) 

Note 

The monthly data series in this release cover mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given 

month, regardless of the duration of the layoffs. For private nonfarm establishments, information on the 

length of the layoff is obtained later and issued in a quarterly release that reports on mass layoffs lasting 

more than 30 days (referred to as “extended mass layoffs”). The quarterly release provides more 

information on the industry classification and location of the establishment and on the demographics of 

Table A. Six-digit NAICS industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims

in May 2012, private nonfarm, not seasonally adjusted

Food service contractors .......................................... 10,326 2009 11,216 

Temporary help services 1

 ........................................ 6,857 2002 16,992 

Child day care services ............................................. 5,962 2011 6,616 

Motion picture and video production ........................ 4,131 1999 8,985 

Department stores, except discount .......................... 2,868 2009 3,379 

School and employee bus transportation ................... 2,632 2008 6,323 

Discount department stores ...................................... 2,390 2002 3,981 

Light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing ............... ( 2 ) 2009 3,570 

Professional employer organizations 1

 ....................... 1,517 2009 5,898 

Industrial building construction .................................. 1,423 2003 3,463 

1

 See the Technical Note for more information on these industries.

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

Industry Initial Claims

May peak

Year Initial claims
- 3 - 

the laid-off workers. The monthly data series in this release are subjected to average weekly analysis, 

which mitigates the effect of differing lengths of months. See the Technical Note for more detailed 

definitions and for a description of average weekly analysis. 

____________ 

The Mass Layoffs news release for June is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 20, 2012, at 

10:00 a.m. (EDT). 
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 database. Each month, states report on employers 

which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during 

a consecutive 5-week period. These employers then are 

contacted by the state agency to determine whether these 

separations lasted 31 days or longer, and, if so, other 

information concerning the layoff is collected. States report 

on layoffs lasting more than 1 month on a quarterly basis. 

A given month contains an aggregation of the weekly 

unemployment insurance claims filings for the Sunday 

through Saturday weeks in that month. All weeks are 

included for the particular month, except if the first day of the 

month falls on Saturday. In this case, the week is included in 

the prior month's tabulations. This means that some months 

will contain 4 weeks and others, 5 weeks. The number of 

weeks in a given month may be different from year to year, 

and the number of weeks in a year may vary. Therefore, data 

users who intend to perform analysis of over-the-year change 

in the not seasonally adjusted series should use the average 

weekly mass layoff figures displayed in tables 3 and 4 of this 

release. The average weekly adjustment process produces a 

consistent series for each month across all years, permitting 

over-the-year analysis to be performed using strictly 

comparable data. 

The MLS program resumed operations in April 1995 

after it had been terminated in November 1992 due to lack of 

funding. Prior to April 1995, monthly layoff statistics were 

not available. 

Information in this release will be made available to 

sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 

(202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339 

Definitions 

Average weekly mass layoff events and initial claimants. 

The number of events and initial claimants in a given month 

divided by the number of weeks contained within that month.

Employer. Employers in the MLS program include 

those covered by state unemployment insurance laws. 

Information on employers is obtained from the Quarterly 

Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, which 

is administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 

Industry. Employers are classified according to the 2007 

version of the North American Industry Classification System 

(NAICS). For temporary help and professional employer 

organization industries, monthly MLS-related statistics 

generally reflect layoffs related to underlying client 

companies in other industries. An individual layoff action at a 

client company can be small, but when initial claimants 

associated with many such layoffs are assigned to a 

temporary help or professional employer organization firm, a 

mass layoff event may trigger. 

Initial claimant. A person who files any notice of unemployment to initiate a request either for a determination of 

entitlement to and eligibility for compensation, or for a 

subsequent period of unemployment within a benefit year or 

period of eligibility. 

Mass layoff event. Fifty or more initial claims for 

unemployment insurance benefits filed against an employer 

during a 5-week period, regardless of duration. 

Seasonal adjustment 

Effective with the release of data for January 2005, BLS 

began publishing six seasonally adjusted monthly MLS 

series. The six series are the numbers of mass layoff events 

and mass layoff initial claims for the total, private nonfarm, 

and manufacturing sectors. 

Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and 

removing the effect on time series data of regularly recurring 

seasonal events such as changes in the weather, holidays, and 

the beginning and ending of the school year. The use of 

seasonal adjustment makes it easier to observe fundamental 

changes in time series, particularly those associated with 

general economic expansions and contractions. 

The MLS data are seasonally adjusted using the X-12-

ARIMA seasonal adjustment method on a concurrent basis. 

Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all available monthly 

estimates, including those for the current month, in 

developing seasonal adjustment factors. Revisions to the most 

recent 5 years of seasonally adjusted data will be made once a 

year with the issuance of December data. Before the data are 

seasonally adjusted, prior adjustments are made to the 

original data to adjust them for differences in the number of 

weeks used to calculate the monthly data. Because weekly 

unemployment insurance claims are aggregated to form 

monthly data, a particular month's value could be calculated 

with 5 weeks of data in 1 year and 4 weeks in another. The 

effects of these differences could seriously distort the 

seasonal factors if they were ignored in the seasonal 

adjustment process. These effects are modeled in the X-12-

ARIMA program and are permanently removed from the 

final seasonally adjusted series.
Table 1. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, June 2008 to May 2012,

seasonally adjusted

2008

June ............................................................. 1,612 163,425 1,471 152,133 491 68,862 

July ............................................................... 1,589 163,572 1,452 153,060 465 62,210 

August .......................................................... 1,763 181,853 1,632 172,147 578 77,464 

September ................................................... 2,159 229,180 1,990 215,749 629 82,011 

October ........................................................ 2,201 226,853 2,043 213,454 698 93,252 

November .................................................... 2,406 239,239 2,247 225,404 907 103,836 

December .................................................... 2,437 244,889 2,261 230,621 935 116,181 

2009

January ........................................................ 2,254 235,371 2,083 221,653 726 92,293 

February ....................................................... 3,059 326,392 2,901 310,378 1,251 145,839 

March ........................................................... 2,999 299,322 2,800 282,414 1,230 154,168 

April .............................................................. 2,566 249,129 2,349 232,632 1,007 116,051 

May .............................................................. 2,710 284,468 2,516 267,869 1,181 147,184 

June ............................................................. 2,466 247,597 2,257 230,502 1,048 137,649 

July ............................................................... 2,186 222,941 1,979 203,911 636 75,728 

August .......................................................... 2,340 216,047 2,115 197,172 751 77,894 

September ................................................... 2,261 214,018 2,048 198,761 786 91,125 

October ........................................................ 1,969 195,752 1,772 178,172 571 65,217 

November .................................................... 1,757 164,454 1,588 151,172 472 52,855 

December .................................................... 1,719 155,056 1,543 140,835 424 44,096 

2010

January ........................................................ 1,707 168,044 1,529 154,187 471 53,817 

February ....................................................... 1,631 156,292 1,465 141,831 374 43,620 

March ........................................................... 1,676 149,816 1,469 134,518 356 40,705 

April .............................................................. 1,637 154,558 1,452 138,503 368 44,506 

May .............................................................. 1,608 150,996 1,357 130,273 302 29,932 

June ............................................................. 1,695 151,435 1,475 132,742 325 33,298 

July ............................................................... 1,519 138,091 1,316 122,162 304 32,253 

August .......................................................... 1,588 159,329 1,399 136,697 390 43,154 

September ................................................... 1,510 133,576 1,295 115,349 328 34,333 

October ........................................................ 1,654 149,589 1,446 132,146 354 38,937 

November .................................................... 1,592 161,145 1,410 145,494 360 39,977 

December .................................................... 1,477 135,849 1,271 121,171 322 36,267 

2011

January ........................................................ 1,536 148,952 1,348 131,869 337 37,477 

February ....................................................... 1,434 131,569 1,242 116,745 297 26,696 

March ........................................................... 1,275 115,391 1,118 102,722 251 28,988 

April .............................................................. 1,548 145,836 1,383 131,317 341 37,053 

May .............................................................. 1,600 144,412 1,404 127,793 374 39,180 

June ............................................................. 1,513 143,384 1,334 128,410 344 36,265 

July ............................................................... 1,562 145,078 1,348 125,285 346 36,312 

August .......................................................... 1,551 164,275 1,347 149,874 382 49,194 

September ................................................... 1,447 147,353 1,306 134,038 364 38,026 

October ........................................................ 1,335 118,924 1,205 107,330 341 33,926 

November .................................................... 1,332 131,627 1,192 120,760 324 36,563 

December .................................................... 1,384 145,648 1,238 130,583 351 39,081 

2012

January ........................................................ 1,434 129,920 1,298 119,102 341 33,597 

February ....................................................... 1,293 119,463 1,153 108,577 282 27,388 

March ........................................................... 1,273 121,310 1,125 109,421 261 26,348 

April .............................................................. 1,388 135,600 1,222 120,213 287 33,243 

May .............................................................. 1,380 130,191 1,222 117,654 264 29,675 

Date

Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing

Events Initial

claimants Events Initial

claimants Events Initial

claimants
Table 2. Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, June 2008 to May 2012,

not seasonally adjusted

2008

June ............................................................. 1,622 166,742 1,315 140,916 309 42,097 

July ............................................................... 1,891 200,382 1,687 186,018 760 108,733 

August .......................................................... 1,427 139,999 1,343 133,146 414 51,912 

September ................................................... 1,292 129,586 1,202 122,505 361 46,391 

October ........................................................ 2,125 221,784 1,917 205,553 689 100,457 

November .................................................... 2,574 241,589 2,389 226,657 997 107,620 

December .................................................... 3,377 351,305 3,232 340,220 1,378 172,529 

2009

January ........................................................ 3,806 388,813 3,633 375,293 1,461 172,757 

February ....................................................... 2,262 218,438 2,173 210,755 945 103,588 

March ........................................................... 2,191 228,387 2,107 221,397 940 114,747 

April .............................................................. 2,547 256,930 2,385 243,321 887 100,872 

May .............................................................. 2,738 289,628 2,572 274,047 1,005 123,683 

June ............................................................. 2,519 256,357 2,051 216,063 674 85,726 

July ............................................................... 3,054 336,654 2,659 296,589 1,133 154,208 

August .......................................................... 1,428 125,024 1,334 117,193 436 41,151 

September ................................................... 1,371 123,177 1,258 115,141 448 51,126 

October ........................................................ 1,934 193,904 1,678 172,883 566 69,655 

November .................................................... 1,870 164,496 1,679 150,751 517 55,053 

December .................................................... 2,310 214,648 2,166 203,655 615 64,540 

2010

January ........................................................ 2,860 278,679 2,682 265,074 962 104,846 

February ....................................................... 1,183 102,818 1,091 96,022 282 30,728 

March ........................................................... 1,197 111,727 1,111 105,514 273 29,745 

April .............................................................. 1,840 199,690 1,697 184,654 424 55,178 

May .............................................................. 1,354 123,333 1,170 109,203 216 19,334 

June ............................................................. 1,861 171,190 1,355 125,872 212 21,083 

July ............................................................... 2,124 206,254 1,732 172,248 532 64,200 

August .......................................................... 976 92,435 897 83,021 230 23,088 

September ................................................... 920 77,654 806 67,987 187 19,403 

October ........................................................ 1,642 148,638 1,373 127,865 351 40,861 

November .................................................... 1,676 158,048 1,477 142,591 389 41,383 

December .................................................... 1,931 184,130 1,763 172,881 465 52,816 

2011

January ........................................................ 2,558 246,463 2,372 229,765 693 75,006 

February ....................................................... 1,024 85,585 919 78,718 222 18,471 

March ........................................................... 908 85,095 844 80,014 191 20,869 

April .............................................................. 1,750 189,919 1,625 176,478 397 47,104 

May .............................................................. 1,367 119,911 1,221 108,531 270 25,199 

June ............................................................. 1,661 159,930 1,238 122,821 226 22,986 

July ............................................................... 2,176 216,774 1,759 174,078 602 71,814 

August .......................................................... 961 99,213 875 93,159 228 26,916 

September ................................................... 1,189 117,232 1,095 107,300 296 32,058 

October ........................................................ 1,101 96,914 950 83,748 265 28,447 

November .................................................... 1,393 127,750 1,245 117,474 349 37,799 

December .................................................... 2,433 263,665 2,258 247,916 658 75,033 

2012

January ........................................................ 1,705 141,703 1,587 132,754 415 38,021 

February ....................................................... 895 73,974 820 69,076 196 16,555 

March ........................................................... 1,125 117,817 1,040 110,954 242 24,241 

April .............................................................. 1,421 146,358 1,293 132,697 256 32,518 

May .............................................................. 1,201 109,259 1,081 100,434 186 18,800 

Date

Total Private nonfarm Manufacturing

Events Initial

claimants Events Initial

claimants Events Initial

claimants
Table 3. Industry distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance, not seasonally adjusted

May May May May May May May May

2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

 Total 2

 ........................................................................ 1,367 1,201 119,911 109,259 342 300 29,978 27,315 

Total, private .................................................................... 1,243 1,099 109,881 101,354 311 275 27,470 25,339 

 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting ..................... 22 18 1,350 920 6 5 338 230 

 Total, private nonfarm ................................................... 1,221 1,081 108,531 100,434 305 270 27,133 25,109 

 Mining .......................................................................... 5 5 308 262 1 1 77 66 

 Utilities ......................................................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 )

 Construction ................................................................ 137 129 9,875 9,617 34 32 2,469 2,404 

 Construction of buildings ......................................... 26 26 1,932 2,250 7 7 483 563 

 Heavy and civil engineering construction ................ 45 40 3,536 3,198 11 10 884 800 

 Specialty trade contractors ...................................... 66 63 4,407 4,169 17 16 1,102 1,042 

 Manufacturing .............................................................. 270 186 25,199 18,800 68 47 6,300 4,700 

 Food ........................................................................ 64 48 6,036 4,487 16 12 1,509 1,122 

 Beverage and tobacco products .............................. ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 )

 Textile mills .............................................................. 12 7 1,045 685 3 2 261 171 

 Textile product mills ................................................. ( 3 ) 4 ( 3 ) 266 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 67 

 Apparel .................................................................... 10 10 1,174 711 3 3 294 178 

 Leather and allied products ..................................... ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - 

 Wood products ........................................................ 10 4 755 262 3 1 189 66 

 Paper ....................................................................... 9 6 934 628 2 2 234 157 

 Printing and related support activities ..................... 14 16 1,182 1,373 4 4 296 343 

 Petroleum and coal products ................................... ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - 

 Chemicals ................................................................ 8 5 503 546 2 1 126 137 

 Plastics and rubber products ................................... 14 5 1,082 300 4 1 271 75 

 Nonmetallic mineral products .................................. 6 5 635 488 2 1 159 122 

 Primary metals ........................................................ 11 9 1,053 641 3 2 263 160 

 Fabricated metal products ....................................... 11 6 848 384 3 2 212 96 

 Machinery ................................................................ 12 12 2,054 1,175 3 3 514 294 

 Computer and electronic products .......................... 12 12 731 913 3 3 183 228 

 Electrical equipment and appliances ....................... 7 4 1,049 723 2 1 262 181 

 Transportation equipment ....................................... 45 19 4,146 3,836 11 5 1,037 959 

 Furniture and related products ................................ 12 9 888 1,049 3 2 222 262 

 Miscellaneous manufacturing .................................. 5 ( 3 ) 456 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 114 ( 3 )

 Wholesale trade .......................................................... 21 16 1,777 976 5 4 444 244 

 Retail trade 4

 ............................................................... 108 117 8,244 11,529 27 29 2,061 2,882 

 Building material and garden supply stores ............ 7 8 516 767 2 2 129 192 

 Food and beverage stores ...................................... 18 18 1,391 1,302 5 5 348 326 

 Clothing and clothing accessories stores ................ 11 14 761 773 3 4 190 193 

 General merchandise stores ................................... 34 49 3,079 6,414 9 12 770 1,604 

 Transportation and warehousing 4

 ............................... 38 38 3,371 4,628 10 10 843 1,157 

 Truck transportation ................................................ 8 7 611 362 2 2 153 91 

 Transit and ground passenger transportation ......... 12 13 1,186 2,844 3 3 297 711 

 Support activities for transportation ......................... 4 3 191 161 1 1 48 40 

 Information .................................................................. 36 39 5,394 5,349 9 10 1,349 1,337 

 Finance and insurance ................................................ 24 31 1,616 2,478 6 8 404 620 

 Real estate and rental and leasing .............................. 7 4 457 428 2 1 114 107 

 Professional and technical services ............................ 50 56 4,062 3,780 13 14 1,016 945 

 Management of companies and enterprises ............... ( 3 ) 4 ( 3 ) 516 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 129 

 Administrative and waste services .............................. 203 169 15,938 12,483 51 42 3,985 3,121 

 Educational services ................................................... 15 11 1,201 843 4 3 300 211 

 Health care and social assistance ............................... 102 95 11,059 9,725 26 24 2,765 2,431 

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................. 24 26 1,835 1,920 6 7 459 480 

 Accommodation and food services ............................. 148 120 15,483 14,142 37 30 3,871 3,536 

 Accommodation ....................................................... 33 13 2,660 970 8 3 665 243 

 Food services and drinking places .......................... 115 107 12,823 13,172 29 27 3,206 3,293 

 Other services, except public administration ............... 28 29 2,361 2,595 7 7 590 649 

 Unclassified ................................................................ - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 )

Government ..................................................................... 124 102 10,030 7,905 31 26 2,508 1,976 

 Federal ........................................................................ 12 7 1,160 519 3 2 290 130 

 State ............................................................................ 32 24 2,136 1,856 8 6 534 464 

 State government education .................................. 22 15 1,404 1,008 6 4 351 252 

 Local ............................................................................ 80 71 6,734 5,530 20 18 1,684 1,383 

 Local government education .................................. 43 37 3,068 2,359 11 9 767 590 

 1

 Average weekly analysis mitigates the effect of differing 2 Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.

 lengths of months. There were 4 weeks in May 2011 3

 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.

 and 4 weeks in May 2012. Average weekly events 4

 Includes other industries not shown.

 and initial claimants may not sum to subtotals and totals NOTE: Dash represents zero.

 due to rounding.

Industry

Mass layoff totals Average weekly mass layoffs1

Events Initial claimants Events Initial claimants
Table 4. Region and state distribution: Mass layoff events and initial claimants for unemployment insurance,

not seasonally adjusted

May May May May May May May May

2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

 Total 2 ................................................ 1,367 1,201 119,911 109,259 342 300 29,978 27,315

Northeast .............................................. 210 197 17,726 18,817 53 49 4,432 4,704

 Connecticut ....................................... 11 11 769 864 3 3 192 216

 Maine ................................................ 4 ( 3 ) 318 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 80 ( 3 ) Massachusetts .................................. 10 9 1,068 1,142 3 2 267 286

 New Hampshire ................................ ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) New Jersey ....................................... 34 22 2,937 1,967 9 6 734 492

 New York .......................................... 56 65 4,743 6,199 14 16 1,186 1,550

 Pennsylvania .................................... 90 79 7,541 7,483 23 20 1,885 1,871

 Rhode Island .................................... ( 3 ) 4 ( 3 ) 439 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 110

 Vermont ............................................ ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 334 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 84

South .................................................... 468 358 43,457 33,270 117 90 10,864 8,318

 Alabama ........................................... 37 13 3,604 1,019 9 3 901 255

 Arkansas ........................................... 15 9 1,647 1,031 4 2 412 258

 Delaware .......................................... 5 ( 3 ) 334 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 84 ( 3 ) District of Columbia .......................... 5 3 276 187 1 1 69 47

 Florida ............................................... 102 75 6,363 4,621 26 19 1,591 1,155

 Georgia ............................................. 40 28 4,038 2,906 10 7 1,010 727

 Kentucky ........................................... 33 20 3,431 1,886 8 5 858 472

 Louisiana .......................................... 29 21 2,531 1,884 7 5 633 471

 Maryland ........................................... 5 9 462 706 1 2 116 177

 Mississippi ........................................ 40 28 5,957 3,961 10 7 1,489 990

 North Carolina .................................. 40 46 3,928 4,247 10 12 982 1,062

 Oklahoma ......................................... 9 5 902 361 2 1 226 90

 South Carolina .................................. 11 4 949 327 3 1 237 82

 Tennessee ........................................ 21 20 1,838 1,762 5 5 460 441

 Texas ................................................ 50 53 4,762 5,130 13 13 1,191 1,283

 Virginia .............................................. 21 21 2,050 3,038 5 5 513 760

 West Virginia .................................... 5 ( 3 ) 385 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 96 ( 3 )

Midwest ................................................ 288 249 26,017 26,349 72 62 6,504 6,587

 Illinois ................................................ 47 64 4,749 7,361 12 16 1,187 1,840

 Indiana .............................................. 28 23 2,189 2,078 7 6 547 520

 Iowa .................................................. 6 12 1,069 1,208 2 3 267 302

 Kansas .............................................. 12 11 1,365 1,092 3 3 341 273

 Michigan ........................................... 38 22 3,368 1,922 10 6 842 481

 Minnesota ......................................... 10 ( 3 ) 932 ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 233 ( 3 ) Missouri ............................................ 32 28 2,620 4,491 8 7 655 1,123

 Nebraska .......................................... 8 9 860 924 2 2 215 231

 North Dakota .................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Ohio .................................................. 63 37 5,170 3,401 16 9 1,293 850

 South Dakota .................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Wisconsin ......................................... 41 35 3,472 3,298 10 9 868 825

West ..................................................... 401 397 32,711 30,823 100 99 8,178 7,706

 Alaska ............................................... 6 7 489 619 2 2 122 155

 Arizona ............................................. 15 14 1,394 1,245 4 4 349 311

 California .......................................... 285 307 22,874 22,995 71 77 5,719 5,749

 Colorado ........................................... 10 10 1,171 902 3 3 293 226

 Hawaii ............................................... 5 ( 3 ) 351 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 88 ( 3 ) Idaho ................................................. 6 3 370 201 2 1 93 50

 Montana ............................................ ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 223 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 56

 Nevada ............................................. 13 11 1,133 859 3 3 283 215

 New Mexico ...................................... 10 11 783 999 3 3 196 250

 Oregon .............................................. 21 15 1,586 1,416 5 4 397 354

 Utah .................................................. 8 5 554 366 2 1 139 92

 Washington ....................................... 16 8 1,463 736 4 2 366 184

 Wyoming ........................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 )

 Puerto Rico ....................................... 24 5 2,815 504 6 1 704 126

1

 See footnote 1, table 3. 3 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.

2

 See footnote 2, table 3. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

Census region and state

Mass layoff totals Average weekly mass layoffs1

Events Initial Claimants Events Initial Claimants