The national unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in February, essentially unchanged from 4.6 percent the prior month and down from 4.8 percent a year earlier. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 97,000 over the month and by 2.0 million over the year.
Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The 10 industries reporting the highest numbers of mass layoff initial claims, not seasonally adjusted, accounted for 33 percent of the total initial claims in February. The industry with the highest number of initial claims was temporary help services (with 5,581), followed by automobile manufacturing (5,561), and motorcycle, bicycle, and parts manufacturing (3,043). Together, these three industries accounted for 16 percent of all initial claims due to mass layoffs during the month.
The manufacturing sector accounted for 29 percent of all mass layoff events and 42 percent of all related initial claims filed in February; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 29 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. In February 2007, the number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing (14,510, mostly in motor vehicle manufacturing), followed by wood product manufacturing (4,497) and food manufacturing (4,188).
Construction accounted for 22 percent of mass layoff events and 15 percent of initial claims in February, largely from specialty trade contractors. Administrative and waste services comprised 12 percent of events and 11 percent of initial claims filed over the month, with the majority of layoffs in temporary help services. Eight percent of all mass layoff events and 7 percent of related initial claims filed were from retail trade, primarily from general merchandise stores. Transportation and warehousing made up 4 percent of events and 5 percent of associated initial claims, primarily from the school and employee bus transportation industry.
On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the number of mass layoff events on February, at 935, was up by 216 from a year earlier, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 20,141 to 86,696. The February level of all mass layoff initial claims, on a not seasonally adjusted basis, was the highest for that month since 2003. The largest over-the-year increases in initial claims were reported in transportation equipment manufacturing (+5,397), wood product manufacturing (+3,267), and specialty trade contractors (+3,198). The largest over-the-year decreases in mass layoff initial claims were reported in apparel manufacturing (-1,358) and motion picture and sound recording industries (-1,268).
Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the four census regions, the highest number of initial claims in February due to mass layoffs was in the Midwest, 26,603. Transportation equipment manufacturing and specialty trade contractors industries together accounted for 37 percent of all mass layoff initial claims in that region during the month. The West had the second largest number of initial claims among the regions, 23,971, followed by the Northeast, 18,272, and the South, 17,850.
The number of initial claimants in mass layoffs increased over the year in all four regions--the Midwest (+9,981), the Northeast (+6,020), the South (+2,909), and the West (+1,231). Six geographic divisions had over-the-year increases in the numbers of initial claims associated with mass layoffs, with the largest increases in the East North Central (+10,662), the Middle Atlantic (+7,402), and the South Atlantic (+2,745). The division with the largest over-the-year decrease was New England (-1,382).
Among the states, California recorded the highest number of initial claims filed due to mass layoff events in February (19,809), followed by Pennsylvania (10,928), Michigan (6,507), Wisconsin (6,035), and Illinois (4,684). These five states accounted for 58 percent of all mass layoff events and 55 percent of all associated initial claims for unemployment insurance.
Pennsylvania had the largest over-the-year increase in the number of initial claims (+7,919), mostly due to layoffs in transportation equipment manufacturing. States having the next largest increases in initial claims were Michigan (+4,219), Wisconsin (+3,514), Ohio (+1,403), and Illinois (+1,299). The largest over-the-year decreases in claims occurred in Minnesota (-1,685) and Kentucky (-1,320).
