The March Grim Reaper--Mass Layoffs

Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published its Mass Layoff report for March, 2007. Amid all the media happiness about our supposed low unemployment rate, here are the highlights of what the BLS had to say:

MASS LAYOFFS IN MARCH 2007
In March, employers took 1,276 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment; the number of workers involved totaled 130,687, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events decreased by 4 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims fell by 13,290. During March, 420 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 54,441 initial claims. Compared with the prior month, mass layoff events in manufacturing remained about the same and initial claims decreased by 9,631. (See table 1.)
....
The 10 industries reporting the highest number of mass layoff initial claims, not seasonally adjusted, accounted for 36 percent of the total initial claims in March. The industry with the highest number of initial claims was temporary help services with 9,217, followed by food service contractors with 7,636, and automobile manufacturing with 5,746. Together, these three industries accounted for 18 percent of all initial claims due to mass layoffs during the month.
...
The manufacturing sector accounted for 34 percent of all mass layoff events and 40 percent of all related initial claims filed in March; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 31 percent of events and 40 percent of initial claims. In March 2007, the number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing (19,397, largely automobile manufacturing), followed by food manufacturing (6,087) and wood product manufacturing (2,674).
....
On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the number of mass layoff events in March at 1,082, was up by 161 from a year earlier, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 12,136 to 123,974.