Fewer Mass Layoffs Than January

 One is hard pressed to find a silver lining in our current cloudy economy.  And maybe it is hard to see any good news in 1,421 mass layoff actions (layoffs involving 50 persons or more) involving 130,818 worker.  Those were the numbers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month of February, 2011.

But there is some good news.  The number of mass layoff events in February decreased by 113 from the previous month, and the number of associated initial claims decreased by 18,981.

In the manufacturing sector alone, in February, 291 mass layoff events were reported, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 26,060 initial claims.  But again, a small ray of hope: both figures decreased over the month, with manufacturing initial claims reaching its lowest level in program history (data begin in April 1995).