
Employers both nationwide and in Texas saw a sharp increase in mass layoff actions in May according to a new report from the
United States Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers in Texas initiated 135 mass layoffs in May which is up from 55 mass layoffs during the same period of 2008.
The number of layoffs which are not seasonally adjusted was up from 74 in April and 112 in March.
A mass layoff is defined as the termination of 50 or more employees from a single employer the report says.
The same report indicates that nationwide U.S. employers performed 2933 mass layoffs last month up from 2712 in April which resulted in the termination of 312880 workers on a seasonally adjusted basis up from 271226 in April and 299388 in March..
The report says that initial jobless claims rose to their highest level on record in May. Since December 2007 the start of the recession as designated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research U.S. employers have performed more than 37000 mass layoffs resulting in more than 3.8 million initial claims for unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis.
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