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Mass layoffs decrease

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

By Guest blogger / August 24, 2010

The decline in mass layoffs suggests the economy is settling in to a period of low employment.

SoldAtTheTop/Paper Economy

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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.

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Writer, The PaperEconomy Blog

'SoldAtTheTop' is not a pessimist by nature but a true skeptic and realist who prefers solid and sustained evidence of fundamental economic recovery to 'Goldilocks,' 'Green Shoots,' 'Mustard Seeds,' and wholesale speculation.

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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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