For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, April 24, 2012 USDL-12-0770 

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

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

MASS LAYOFFS — MARCH 2012 

Employers took 1,273 mass layoff actions in March involving 121,310 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 March decreased by 20 from February, while the number of associated initial 

claims increased by 1,847. In March, 261 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, 

seasonally adjusted, resulting in 26,348 initial claims. Both manufacturing figures were lower when 

compared to February. (See table 1.) 

The national unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in March, little changed from the prior month but down 

from 8.9 percent a year earlier. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 120,000 over the month 

and by 1,899,000 over the year. 

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

The number of mass layoff events in March was 1,125, not seasonally adjusted, resulting in 117,817 

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

mass layoff events decreased by 2 to 225, while associated average weekly initial claims increased by 

2,289 to 23,563. Eleven of the 19 major industry sectors in the private economy reported over-the-year 

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

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

Initial Claims Unemployment Rate

Total masslayoffinitial claims Manufacturingmasslayoffinitial claims Unemploymentrate

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

increases in average weekly initial claims, with the largest increase occurring in information. (See table 

3.) Over the month, the six-digit industry with the largest number of private nonfarm initial claims was 

in temporary help services. (See table A.) 

In March, the manufacturing sector accounted for 22 percent of mass layoff events and 21 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. Twelve of the 21 manufacturing 

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

decrease occurring in wood products. (See table 3.) 

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

Among the census regions, the West registered the largest number of initial claims in March. Two of the 

4 regions experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims, with the largest increase 

occurring in the West. (See table 4.) 

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

followed by Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Carolina. Twenty-two states experienced over-the-year 

increases in average weekly initial claims, led by California, North Carolina, Ohio, and Arkansas. (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 

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

in March 2012, private nonfarm, not seasonally adjusted

Temporary help services 1

 ........................................ 11,732 2002 14,338 

Food service contractors .......................................... 9,629 2012 9,629 

School and employee bus transportation ................... 6,815 2008 8,073 

Motion picture and video production ........................ 6,367 2005 7,192 

Payroll services ........................................................ 2,563 2001 5,099 

Warehouse clubs and supercenters ........................... 1,900 2012 1,900 

Discount department stores ...................................... 1,776 2007 3,670 

Supermarkets and other grocery stores ..................... 1,713 2009 2,220 

Professional employer organizations 1

 ....................... 1,663 2009 4,892 

Automobile manufacturing ........................................ 1,627 1996 15,411 

1

 See the Technical Note for more information on these industries.

Industry Initial Claims

March peak

Year Initial claims
- 3 - 

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

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 Extended Mass Layoffs news release for the First Quarter 2012 is scheduled to be released on 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT). The Mass Layoffs news release for April is 

scheduled to be released on Tuesday, May 22, 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, April 2008 to March 2012,

seasonally adjusted

2008

April .............................................................. 1,290 128,643 1,157 117,639 453 57,044 

May .............................................................. 1,567 160,475 1,432 150,893 470 62,776 

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 

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, April 2008 to March 2012,

not seasonally adjusted

2008

April .............................................................. 1,272 130,810 1,172 121,625 394 48,188 

May .............................................................. 1,552 159,471 1,438 150,462 388 51,698 

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 

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

March March March March March March March March

2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

 Total 2

 ....................................................................... 908 1,125 85,095 117,817 227 225 21,274 23,563 

Total, private .................................................................. 874 1,083 82,046 113,790 219 217 20,512 22,758 

 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting .................... 30 43 2,032 2,836 8 9 508 567 

 Total, private nonfarm .................................................. 844 1,040 80,014 110,954 211 208 20,004 22,191 

 Mining ......................................................................... 3 8 247 823 1 2 62 165 

 Utilities ........................................................................ 4 ( 3 ) 547 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 137 ( 3 )

 Construction ............................................................... 99 121 7,569 9,148 25 24 1,892 1,830 

 Construction of buildings ........................................ 22 17 1,744 1,432 6 3 436 286 

 Heavy and civil engineering construction ............... 37 42 2,928 3,118 9 8 732 624 

 Specialty trade contractors ..................................... 40 62 2,897 4,598 10 12 724 920 

 Manufacturing ............................................................ 191 242 20,869 24,241 48 48 5,217 4,848 

 Food ....................................................................... 45 69 4,338 7,701 11 14 1,085 1,540 

 Beverage and tobacco products ............................ 4 5 242 326 1 1 61 65 

 Textile mills ............................................................ 3 6 328 786 1 1 82 157 

 Textile product mills ............................................... 3 4 481 335 1 1 120 67 

 Apparel ................................................................... 4 9 374 651 1 2 94 130 

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

 Wood products ....................................................... 24 14 2,354 1,154 6 3 589 231 

 Paper ...................................................................... 7 8 622 578 2 2 156 116 

 Printing and related support activities .................... 5 4 359 341 1 1 90 68 

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

 Chemicals .............................................................. ( 3 ) 4 ( 3 ) 242 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 48 

 Plastics and rubber products .................................. 4 9 321 614 1 2 80 123 

 Nonmetallic mineral products ................................. 5 11 404 844 1 2 101 169 

 Primary metals ....................................................... 8 3 536 223 2 1 134 45 

 Fabricated metal products ...................................... 12 18 916 1,084 3 4 229 217 

 Machinery ............................................................... 11 12 1,077 845 3 2 269 169 

 Computer and electronic products ......................... 10 14 808 1,432 3 3 202 286 

 Electrical equipment and appliances ...................... 8 13 2,886 2,417 2 3 722 483 

 Transportation equipment ...................................... 19 25 2,887 3,362 5 5 722 672 

 Furniture and related products ............................... 10 6 1,099 613 3 1 275 123 

 Miscellaneous manufacturing ................................. 5 5 530 396 1 1 133 79 

 Wholesale trade ......................................................... 18 20 1,393 1,639 5 4 348 328 

 Retail trade 4

 .............................................................. 89 100 9,012 10,375 22 20 2,253 2,075 

 Building material and garden supply stores ........... 12 8 995 953 3 2 249 191 

 Food and beverage stores ..................................... 16 20 1,194 1,826 4 4 299 365 

 Clothing and clothing accessories stores ............... 10 9 600 604 3 2 150 121 

 General merchandise stores .................................. 24 39 4,218 5,146 6 8 1,055 1,029 

 Transportation and warehousing 4

 ............................. 44 72 5,133 9,013 11 14 1,283 1,803 

 Truck transportation ............................................... 5 6 307 358 1 1 77 72 

 Transit and ground passenger transportation ........ 27 47 3,482 7,045 7 9 871 1,409 

 Support activities for transportation ........................ 6 4 814 302 2 1 204 60 

 Information ................................................................. 36 49 3,788 9,195 9 10 947 1,839 

 Finance and insurance ............................................... 19 30 1,354 2,168 5 6 339 434 

 Real estate and rental and leasing ............................. 6 6 452 359 2 1 113 72 

 Professional and technical services ........................... 35 42 3,771 6,331 9 8 943 1,266 

 Management of companies and enterprises .............. 3 5 194 517 1 1 49 103 

 Administrative and waste services ............................. 151 165 11,303 16,911 38 33 2,826 3,382 

 Educational services .................................................. 4 9 265 552 1 2 66 110 

 Health care and social assistance .............................. 33 33 2,038 2,752 8 7 510 550 

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................ 13 16 893 1,110 3 3 223 222 

 Accommodation and food services ............................ 88 112 10,491 15,122 22 22 2,623 3,024 

 Accommodation ..................................................... 16 23 1,163 2,121 4 5 291 424 

 Food services and drinking places ......................... 72 89 9,328 13,001 18 18 2,332 2,600 

 Other services, except public administration .............. 8 6 695 405 2 1 174 81 

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

Government ................................................................... 34 42 3,049 4,027 9 8 762 805 

 Federal ....................................................................... 5 4 532 271 1 1 133 54 

 State ........................................................................... 10 17 1,389 1,460 3 3 347 292 

 State government education ................................. 3 5 755 427 1 1 189 85 

 Local ........................................................................... 19 21 1,128 2,296 5 4 282 459 

 Local government education ................................. 7 4 386 823 2 1 97 165 

 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 March 2011 3

 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.

 and 5 weeks in March 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

March March March March March March March March

2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

 Total 2 ............................................... 908 1,125 85,095 117,817 227 225 21,274 23,563

Northeast ............................................. 169 198 15,540 18,520 42 40 3,885 3,704

 Connecticut ..................................... 5 ( 3 ) 410 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 103 ( 3 ) Maine .............................................. 5 5 575 415 1 1 144 83

 Massachusetts ................................ 7 11 624 1,073 2 2 156 215

 New Hampshire ............................... ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 339 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 68

 New Jersey ..................................... 19 21 1,494 2,065 5 4 374 413

 New York ......................................... 49 54 5,159 5,226 12 11 1,290 1,045

 Pennsylvania ................................... 79 92 7,004 8,034 20 18 1,751 1,607

 Rhode Island ................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Vermont ........................................... ( 3 ) 8 ( 3 ) 1,123 ( 3 ) 2 ( 3 ) 225

South ................................................... 250 289 26,112 31,925 63 58 6,528 6,385

 Alabama .......................................... 18 18 2,072 2,130 5 4 518 426

 Arkansas ......................................... ( 3 ) 16 ( 3 ) 1,835 ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 367

 Delaware ......................................... - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) District of Columbia ......................... - - - -----

 Florida ............................................. 56 55 4,060 4,836 14 11 1,015 967

 Georgia ........................................... 16 8 1,593 1,069 4 2 398 214

 Kentucky ......................................... 20 26 2,387 2,601 5 5 597 520

 Louisiana ......................................... 11 7 1,239 423 3 1 310 85

 Maryland ......................................... 4 3 431 182 1 1 108 36

 Mississippi ....................................... 14 12 1,413 1,314 4 2 353 263

 North Carolina ................................. 18 60 1,917 6,060 5 12 479 1,212

 Oklahoma ........................................ 5 3 367 697 1 1 92 139

 South Carolina ................................ 7 7 489 498 2 1 122 100

 Tennessee ...................................... 9 8 667 854 2 2 167 171

 Texas .............................................. 54 50 7,970 7,962 14 10 1,993 1,592

 Virginia ............................................ 13 13 1,102 1,206 3 3 276 241

 West Virginia ................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 )

Midwest ............................................... 172 219 17,168 24,470 43 44 4,292 4,894

 Illinois .............................................. 37 36 3,495 4,610 9 7 874 922

 Indiana ............................................ 12 18 1,336 1,830 3 4 334 366

 Iowa ................................................. 10 9 2,060 1,278 3 2 515 256

 Kansas ............................................ 5 11 727 1,588 1 2 182 318

 Michigan .......................................... 21 25 2,359 3,749 5 5 590 750

 Minnesota ........................................ 9 10 707 844 2 2 177 169

 Missouri ........................................... 21 20 1,755 1,614 5 4 439 323

 Nebraska ......................................... 3 ( 3 ) 279 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 70 ( 3 ) North Dakota ................................... - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) Ohio ................................................. 22 48 1,891 4,638 6 10 473 928

 South Dakota .................................. - - - -----

 Wisconsin ........................................ 32 37 2,559 3,777 8 7 640 755

West .................................................... 317 419 26,275 42,902 79 84 6,569 8,580

 Alaska ............................................. ( 3 ) 3 ( 3 ) 178 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 36

 Arizona ............................................ 11 15 1,045 1,286 3 3 261 257

 California ......................................... 230 319 17,478 33,461 58 64 4,370 6,692

 Colorado .......................................... 5 9 557 1,165 1 2 139 233

 Hawaii ............................................. 5 ( 3 ) 659 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 165 ( 3 ) Idaho ............................................... 10 7 886 694 3 1 222 139

 Montana .......................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Nevada ............................................ 7 9 524 879 2 2 131 176

 New Mexico ..................................... 7 8 640 765 2 2 160 153

 Oregon ............................................ 20 20 2,337 2,153 5 4 584 431

 Utah ................................................. 3 5 423 385 1 1 106 77

 Washington ..................................... 14 19 1,099 1,546 4 4 275 309

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

 Puerto Rico ..................................... 11 15 1,114 1,899 3 3 279 380

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