Mass layoffs decrease

Mass layoffs (where an employer lays off 50 or more individuals in a month) continue to decline from 2009 highs.

The July release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Mass Layoff Report indicated a slight decline in large-scale layoffs with 1609 mass layoff events resulting in 143,703 initial unemployment claimants on a seasonally adjusted basis.

It's important to note that this increase in mass layoffs appears to be contributing to a flattening of the series that is, more or less, consistent with a similar flattening trend currently shaping up for the weekly unemployment claims series.

It could be that we are now seeing the initial signs of a job market that is settling into a long trend of elevated unemployment and general weakness.

The BLS considers a mass layoff event to be a condition where there are at least fifty initial claims for unemployment insurance originating from a single employer over a period of five consecutive weeks.

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