Missouri employers initiated 375 mass layoffs during 2011 resulting in 32,823 individuals losing their jobs, according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the Department of Labor.
The BLS defines a mass layoff as involving more than 50 workers from a single employer.
The number of mass layoffs in Missouri last year was down 10.7 percent from 420 in 2010, but the release noted initial claims for unemployment insurance were 32,823 in 2011, up slightly compared to 32,586 in 2010. Still, the number of initial claims in 2011 was the third-lowest number recorded in Missouri since 1996, when annual data first was tracked.
Missouri manufacturers conducted 98 mass layoffs, the most by industry during 2011. The industry also had the most initial unemployment claims at 9,800, though that was the second-lowest count recorded for the industry since 1996, according to the release.
The largest decrease in claims year-to-year was in the construction field. The state's construction industry had 1,659 initial claims in 2011, a 47 percent decrease compared to 3,150 claims in 2010.
Other highlights:
- The accommodation and food services sector recorded its all-time high number of claims with 4,385.
- Two additional sectors, retail trade and state government, reported their second-highest levels of initial claims in the history of the BLS data, with 3,493 claims and 476 claims, respectively.
- Mass layoffs from private companies accounted for 93 percent of the 2011 layoffs.
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