For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, November 22, 2011 USDL-11-1671 

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

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

MASS LAYOFFS — OCTOBER 2011 

Employers took 1,353 mass layoff actions in October involving 118,689 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. 

The number of mass layoff events in October decreased by 142 from September, and the number of 

associated initial claims decreased by 34,540. In October, 345 mass layoff events were reported in the 

manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 33,849 initial claims. (See table 1.) 

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100,000

150,000

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Oct-00 Oct-01 Oct-02 Oct-03 Oct-04 Oct-05 Oct-06 Oct-07 Oct-08 Oct-09 Oct-10 Oct-11

Initial Claims Unemployment Rate

Total mass layoff initial claims Manufacturing mass layoff initial claims Unemployment rate

Chart 1. Mass layoff initial claims and unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, October 2000-October 2011 

The national unemployment rate was 9.0 percent in October, essentially unchanged from the prior month 

but down from 9.7 percent a year earlier. In October, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 

80,000 over the month and by 1,501,000 over the year. 

Changes to Mass Layoffs News Release 

Several changes to the Mass Layoffs news release are made effective with this release. See the 

box note on page 4 for a complete list of the changes. 
- 2 - 

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

in October 2011, private nonfarm, not seasonally adjusted

Temporary help services 1

 ........................................ 9,393 1998 18,760 

Professional employer organizations 1

 ....................... 2,497 2008 7,242 

Fruit and vegetable canning ....................................... 2,393 2002 4,500 

Food service contractors .......................................... 1,944 2009 3,233 

Discount department stores ...................................... 1,859 2002 4,959 

Motion picture and video production ........................ 1,742 1997 7,692 

Supermarkets and other grocery stores ..................... 1,640 2003 13,682 

AC, refrigeration, and forced air heating .................... 1,450 2007 2,588 

Hotels and motels, except casino hotels .................... 1,279 2001 5,795 

Household refrigerator and home freezer mfg. ........... 1,200 2002 2,393 

 1 See the Technical Note for more information on these industries.

Industry Initial Claims

October peak

Year Initial claims

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

The number of mass layoff events in October was 1,101, not seasonally adjusted, resulting in 96,914 

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

mass layoff events decreased by 53, and associated average weekly initial claims decreased by 5,499. 

Sixteen of the 19 major industry sectors in the private economy reported over-the-year decreases in 

average weekly initial claims, with the largest decreases occurring in construction and manufacturing. 

(See table 3.) The six-digit industry with the largest number of private nonfarm initial claims in October 

was temporary help services. (See table A.) 

The manufacturing sector accounted for 24 percent of all mass layoff events and 29 percent of initial 

claims filed in October. A year earlier, manufacturing made up 21 percent of events and 27 percent of 

initial claims. Within this sector, the numbers of mass layoff claimants in October was greatest in the 

food, machinery, and transportation equipment subsectors. Twelve of the 21 manufacturing subsectors 

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

in transportation equipment. (See table 3.) 

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted) 

Among the census regions, the West registered the greatest numbers of initial claims in October. All 

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

decline occurring in the West. (See table 4.) 

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

followed by Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, and Illinois. Twenty-seven states experienced over-theyear declines in average weekly initial claims, led by California and Pennsylvania. (See table 4.) 
- 3 - 

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 

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 November is scheduled to be released on Thursday, December 

22, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. (EST). 
- 4 - 

Changes to Mass Layoffs News Release 

The following changes are effective in the October 2011 Mass Layoffs news release 

issued on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.

 Charts 1 and 2 were replaced with a single chart showing 11 years of mass layoff 

initial claims data. 

 Table A was modified to display only private nonfarm industries. 

 Seasonally adjusted data were removed from Table 3 since these data are available 

in Table 1. Select three-digit industries were added to the new table 3. Public 

education industry detail also was added to the state government and local 

government sections. The previous 2 months' data were removed, keeping only the 

current month's and the previous year's data. 

 Table 4 was removed from the monthly release; it will be issued on the BLS Web 

site as a supplemental table to the quarterly Extended Mass Layoffs news release. 

Tables 5 and 6 were combined to create a new Table 4. The geographic divisions 

previously shown in Table 5 were removed, and the states were grouped into their 

respective Census regions. The previous 2 months' data were removed, keeping only 

the current months' and the previous year's data. 

 Average weekly mass layoff events and average weekly initial claims were added to 

the new Tables 3 and 4 to mitigate the calendar effect and to show the data 

previously reported only in the text. 
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, 

analysis of over-the-month and over-the-year change in not 

seasonally adjusted series should take this calendar effect into 

consideration. 

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 

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, November 2007 to 

October 2011, seasonally adjusted

2007

November .................................................... 1,397 145,339 1,269 135,651 408 56,985 

December .................................................... 1,553 154,275 1,435 144,785 463 59,445 

2008

January ........................................................ 1,437 146,900 1,302 135,622 431 55,562 

February ....................................................... 1,604 175,128 1,441 163,475 471 59,118 

March ........................................................... 1,500 150,502 1,388 140,424 435 56,156 

April .............................................................. 1,292 128,901 1,162 118,016 449 58,402 

May .............................................................. 1,582 161,944 1,444 152,230 468 62,452 

June ............................................................. 1,631 164,508 1,488 153,014 491 68,198 

July ............................................................... 1,581 164,497 1,443 153,720 463 62,425 

August .......................................................... 1,791 181,107 1,653 171,705 583 77,874 

September ................................................... 2,192 233,034 2,024 219,532 635 82,471 

October ........................................................ 2,221 229,254 2,062 215,787 697 92,408 

November .................................................... 2,415 228,107 2,256 214,631 900 102,284 

December .................................................... 2,443 245,661 2,264 231,138 927 114,280 

2009

January ........................................................ 2,272 238,717 2,103 224,850 756 100,927 

February ....................................................... 2,801 315,507 2,636 300,042 1,194 138,583 

March ........................................................... 2,950 295,543 2,758 279,027 1,205 144,713 

April .............................................................. 2,579 251,032 2,368 234,796 997 121,435 

May .............................................................. 2,758 288,319 2,557 271,425 1,187 147,548 

June ............................................................. 2,506 250,275 2,293 232,814 1,048 135,389 

July ............................................................... 2,192 223,697 1,977 203,365 620 72,932 

August .......................................................... 2,419 220,262 2,177 201,951 778 83,837 

September ................................................... 2,305 219,924 2,095 204,596 799 91,665 

October ........................................................ 1,975 195,347 1,780 177,977 570 63,646 

November .................................................... 1,754 154,223 1,585 141,439 464 51,891 

December .................................................... 1,725 156,274 1,545 141,649 420 43,584 

2010

January ........................................................ 1,716 171,633 1,541 157,597 494 60,059 

February ....................................................... 1,492 149,369 1,318 135,490 351 40,564 

March ........................................................... 1,635 146,901 1,436 131,953 347 37,273 

April .............................................................. 1,675 159,358 1,498 143,814 371 48,646 

May .............................................................. 1,665 155,352 1,405 133,913 314 30,967 

June ............................................................. 1,729 153,937 1,504 134,837 326 32,646 

July ............................................................... 1,528 138,581 1,316 121,378 296 30,752 

August .......................................................... 1,658 163,325 1,453 141,489 409 47,668 

September ................................................... 1,541 137,941 1,331 119,654 336 34,641 

October ........................................................ 1,649 147,204 1,445 130,264 353 37,394 

November .................................................... 1,579 148,800 1,397 133,845 350 39,072 

December .................................................... 1,483 137,992 1,272 122,688 319 35,977 

2011

January ........................................................ 1,534 149,799 1,344 132,730 341 39,189 

February ....................................................... 1,421 130,818 1,220 116,190 291 26,060 

March ........................................................... 1,286 118,523 1,128 105,636 253 27,619 

April .............................................................. 1,564 143,927 1,401 129,702 327 35,022 

May .............................................................. 1,599 143,540 1,405 127,494 373 38,673 

June ............................................................. 1,532 143,444 1,348 128,105 341 35,693 

July ............................................................... 1,579 145,000 1,363 124,745 342 35,460 

August .......................................................... 1,587 165,547 1,373 150,136 391 48,997 

September ................................................... 1,495 153,229 1,347 139,151 376 39,929 

October ........................................................ 1,353 118,689 1,221 107,101 345 33,849 

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, November 2007 to 

October 2011, not seasonally adjusted

2007

November .................................................... 1,799 198,220 1,593 181,184 514 75,413 

December .................................................... 2,167 224,214 2,071 216,898 699 91,754 

2008

January ........................................................ 1,647 154,503 1,520 144,191 488 54,418 

February ....................................................... 1,269 119,508 1,178 113,587 361 42,527 

March ........................................................... 1,089 114,541 1,039 110,147 333 43,740 

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 

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

October October October October October October October October

2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011

 Total 2

 ....................................................................... 1,642 1,101 148,638 96,914 328 275 29,728 24,229 

Total, private .................................................................. 1,493 1,015 136,178 88,044 299 254 27,236 22,011 

 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting .................... 120 65 8,313 4,296 24 16 1,663 1,074 

 Total, private nonfarm .................................................. 1,373 950 127,865 83,748 275 238 25,573 20,937 

 Mining ..

....................................................................... 6 ( 3 ) 390 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 78 ( 3 )

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

 Construction ............................................................... 175 89 13,500 6,391 35 22 2,700 1,598 

 Construction of buildings ........................................ 39 18 3,103 1,352 8 5 621 338 

 Heavy and civil engineering construction ............... 60 29 5,276 2,204 12 7 1,055 551 

 Specialty trade contractors .................................... 76 42 5,121 2,835 15 11 1,024 709 

 Manufacturing ............................................................ 351 265 40,861 28,447 70 66 8,172 7,112 

 Food ....................................................................... 80 58 8,639 6,596 16 15 1,728 1,649 

 Beverage and tobacco products ............................ 15 5 1,166 445 3 1 233 111 

 Textile mills ............................................................ 7 15 1,019 1,242 1 4 204 311 

 Textile product mills ............................................... 4 ( 3 ) 271 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 54 ( 3 )

 Apparel ................................................................... 10 6 1,399 513 2 2 280 128 

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

 Wood products ....................................................... 26 15 2,570 1,276 5 4 514 319 

 Paper ..................................................................... 4 3 334 278 1 1 67 70 

 Printing and related support activities .................... 6 11 435 1,055 1 3 87 264 

 Petroleum and coal products ................................. ( 3 ) 5 ( 3 ) 360 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 90 

 Chemicals .............................................................. 8 5 723 274 2 1 145 69 

 Plastics and rubber products ................................. 9 9 656 771 2 2 131 193 

 Nonmetallic mineral products ................................. 15 9 1,460 791 3 2 292 198 

 Primary metals ....................................................... 16 11 1,358 1,021 3 3 272 255 

 Fabricated metal products ..................................... 20 17 1,667 2,066 4 4 333 517 

 Machinery .............................................................. 26 22 4,968 3,617 5 6 994 904 

 Computer and electronic products ......................... 13 15 851 1,422 3 4 170 356 

 Electrical equipment and appliances ..................... 15 6 1,935 1,377 3 2 387 344 

 Transportation equipment ...................................... 50 28 8,581 3,478 10 7 1,716 870 

 Furniture and related products ............................... 17 11 1,929 825 3 3 386 206 

 Miscellaneous manufacturing ................................ 6 10 596 700 1 3 119 175 

 Wholesale trade ......................................................... 30 21 2,079 1,489 6 5 416 372 

 Retail trade 4

 ............................................................. 126 99 13,260 9,240 25 25 2,652 2,310 

 Building material and garden supply stores ........... 13 11 1,300 1,008 3 3 260 252 

 Food and beverage stores ..................................... 23 19 2,039 1,705 5 5 408 426 

 Clothing and clothing accessories stores ............... 13 7 803 378 3 2 161 95 

 General merchandise stores .................................. 38 36 6,189 4,380 8 9 1,238 1,095 

 Transportation and warehousing 4

 ............................. 45 29 3,948 2,345 9 7 790 586 

 Truck transportation ............................................... 7 ( 3 ) 462 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 92 ( 3 )

 Transit and ground passenger transportation ........ 14 12 1,203 1,185 3 3 241 296 

 Support activities for transportation ....................... 8 ( 3 ) 635 ( 3 ) 2 ( 3 ) 127 ( 3 )

 Information ................................................................. 52 23 5,640 2,452 10 6 1,128 613 

 Finance and insurance ............................................... 31 25 2,342 1,973 6 6 468 493 

 Real estate and rental and leasing ............................ 9 7 455 544 2 2 91 136 

 Professional and technical services ........................... 43 34 3,447 2,469 9 9 689 617 

 Management of companies and enterprises .............. 3 ( 3 ) 265 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 53 ( 3 )

 Administrative and waste services ............................. 275 199 23,531 16,173 55 50 4,706 4,043 

 Educational services .................................................. 11 8 657 518 2 2 131 130 

 Health care and social assistance ............................. 54 41 4,056 2,728 11 10 811 682 

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................ 31 28 2,674 2,053 6 7 535 513 

 Accommodation and food services ............................ 118 72 10,024 5,986 24 18 2,005 1,497 

 Accommodation ..................................................... 42 21 3,658 1,624 8 5 732 406 

 Food services and drinking places ......................... 76 51 6,366 4,362 15 13 1,273 1,091 

 Other services, except public administration ............. 10 5 506 492 2 1 101 123 

 Unclassified ............................................................... ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 113 ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) 28 

Government ................................................................... 149 86 12,460 8,870 30 22 2,492 2,218 

 Federal ....................................................................... 41 23 4,336 2,198 8 6 867 550 

 State ........................................................................... 32 23 2,967 2,566 6 6 593 642 

 State government education ................................. 8 5 492 361 2 1 98 90 

 Local .......................................................................... 76 40 5,157 4,106 15 10 1,031 1,027 

 Local government education ................................. 34 13 1,932 974 7 3 386 244 

 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 5 weeks in October 2010 3

 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.

 and 4 weeks in October 2011. 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

October October October October October October October October

2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011

 Total 2 ............................................... 1,642 1,101 148,638 96,914 328 275 29,728 24,229

Northeast ............................................. 246 164 20,922 14,814 49 41 4,184 3,704

 Connecticut ..................................... 7 8 523 640 1 2 105 160

 Maine .............................................. - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) Massachusetts ................................ 11 9 858 987 2 2 172 247

 New Hampshire ............................... 3 ( 3 ) 302 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 60 ( 3 ) New Jersey ..................................... 31 23 2,517 1,744 6 6 503 436

 New York ......................................... 61 49 5,443 5,484 12 12 1,089 1,371

 Pennsylvania ................................... 129 70 11,022 5,637 26 18 2,204 1,409

 Rhode Island ................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Vermont ........................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 )

South ................................................... 368 284 35,853 25,223 74 71 7,171 6,306

 Alabama .......................................... 20 7 2,244 967 4 2 449 242

 Arkansas ......................................... 7 18 790 2,520 1 5 158 630

 Delaware ......................................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) District of Columbia ......................... ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) ( 3 ) Florida ............................................. 105 91 9,277 6,576 21 23 1,855 1,644

 Georgia ........................................... 32 24 2,969 1,886 6 6 594 472

 Kentucky ......................................... 20 20 2,828 1,841 4 5 566 460

 Louisiana ......................................... 19 8 1,554 525 4 2 311 131

 Maryland ......................................... 9 3 796 163 2 1 159 41

 Mississippi ....................................... 15 9 1,017 668 3 2 203 167

 North Carolina 4

 ............................... 21 27 1,697 2,195 4 7 339 549

 Oklahoma ........................................ 7 7 484 574 1 2 97 144

 South Carolina ................................ 21 10 3,479 1,329 4 3 696 332

 Tennessee ...................................... 15 4 1,006 292 3 1 201 73

 Texas .............................................. 52 39 4,739 3,454 10 10 948 864

 Virginia ............................................ 19 13 2,444 1,830 4 3 489 458

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

Midwest ............................................... 316 215 34,290 22,090 63 54 6,858 5,523

 Illinois .............................................. 60 48 7,281 4,971 12 12 1,456 1,243

 Indiana ............................................ 26 13 4,349 1,843 5 3 870 461

 Iowa ................................................. 14 10 1,397 1,115 3 3 279 279

 Kansas ............................................ 6 ( 3 ) 737 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 147 ( 3 ) Michigan .......................................... 34 32 3,010 3,151 7 8 602 788

 Minnesota ........................................ 26 12 3,056 1,132 5 3 611 283

 Missouri ........................................... 37 22 2,866 2,503 7 6 573 626

 Nebraska ......................................... 6 8 560 811 1 2 112 203

 North Dakota ................................... - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) - ( 3 ) Ohio ................................................. 45 29 4,734 2,616 9 7 947 654

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

 Wisconsin ........................................ 62 38 6,300 3,577 12 10 1,260 894

West .................................................... 712 438 57,573 34,787 142 110 11,515 8,697

 Alaska ............................................. 5 8 430 970 1 2 86 243

 Arizona ............................................ 24 17 2,392 1,527 5 4 478 382

 California ......................................... 559 322 42,458 24,007 112 81 8,492 6,002

 Colorado .......................................... 17 10 1,675 873 3 3 335 218

 Hawaii ............................................. 5 5 401 340 1 1 80 85

 Idaho ............................................... 5 9 362 613 1 2 72 153

 Montana .......................................... 9 7 831 730 2 2 166 183

 Nevada ............................................ 26 4 2,396 279 5 1 479 70

 New Mexico ..................................... 7 11 545 705 1 3 109 176

 Oregon ............................................ 22 21 2,540 2,354 4 5 508 589

 Utah ................................................. 7 ( 3 ) 758 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 152 ( 3 ) Washington ..................................... 22 20 2,181 1,774 4 5 436 444

 Wyoming ......................................... 4 ( 3 ) 604 ( 3 ) 1 ( 3 ) 121 ( 3 )

 Puerto Rico ..................................... 22 9 2,191 1,058 4 2 438 265

 1 See footnote 1, table 3. data due to a change in MLS unemployment insurance

 2 See footnote 2, table 3. input procedures.

 3 Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. NOTE: Dash represents zero.

 4

 Data starting in November 2010 may not be comparable to prior

Census region and state

Mass layoff totals Average weekly mass layoffs1

Events Initial Claimants Events Initial Claimants