Chart: Mass layoff initial claimants by selected industries

In July, 14 of the 19 major industry sectors in the private economy reported over-the-year decreases in initial claims, led by manufacturing, which reached a program low of 64,200 claims for the month. This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[Chart data]

The manufacturing sector accounted for 25 percent of all mass layoff events and 31 percent of initial claims filed in July. A year earlier, manufacturing made up 37 percent of events and 46 percent of initial claims.

This data is from the Mass Layoffs Statistics program and is not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs — July 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-1143. Each mass layoff event involves at least 50 people from a single employer.