Mass layoffs up 75% in Texas - Houston Business Journal:

exceeding-commissioner.blogspot.com
Texas' total number of mass layoffs--definedc as those affecting 50 ormore workers--wasw the seventh-largest in the nation. Abour 9 percent of the state'as total workforce was affected by extendex mass layoffs in thefirs quarter, the third-highest in the U.S. followin g Illinois (18 percent) and California (11 percent). Initial claimants for unemployment benefits in Texastotaledc 23,174 during the quarter, up from 19,488 a year ago. The 50 statezs and the District of Columbiareported 3,489 mass layoffs in the firs quarter, down from 3,585 in the fourth quartet and up from 1,340 in the firsrt quarter of 2008.
The nation had 542,02e3 initial claims in the first quarter, down from 762,737 in the fourth quarter and upfrom 259,29 2 in the first quarter of 2008. manufacturing firms reported 1,380 mass layoffs involvingb 215,281 separations, the highest first-quarter levels for the industrgon record, with data available starting in 1996. The manufacturiny segment accounted for 40 percent of privater nonfarm layoffs and 39 percentr of related separations in thefirst quarter. A year manufacturing constituted 31 percent of layoffs and 37 percentrof separations.