Manufacturing Sector Accounts For 31 Percent Of 2Q Layoffs

Modern Distribution Management (8/14) reports, "Mass layoff events reached a record high during the second quarter of 2009 with the manufacturing sector accounting for 31% of the separations, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics." Employers "initiated 2,994 mass layoff events in the second quarter of 2009 resulting in the separation of 534,881 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days." Manufacturing firms "reported 932 extended mass layoff events involving 166,240 separations in the second quarter of 2009." The largest "numbers of separations within manufacturing were associated with transportation equipment manufacturing (57,136, mostly associated with automobile and light truck manufacturing) and machinery manufacturing (18,096)."