Massive Unemployment: Mass Layoffs May 2011

The latest release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Mass Layoff Report indicated an increase in large-scale layoffs with 1599 mass layoff events for May resulting in 143,540 initial unemployment claimants on a seasonally adjusted basis.

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.