BLS drops mass layoff stats, Blames sequester cuts, March 2013, Feb Mass layoffs affect 135468 workers, Layoffs and initial claims up over Jan, California highest mass layoffs

“With a 63.7% labor force participation, “conditions in the labor market are considerably worse than indicated” in July’s report”…economist Joshua Shapiro, WSJ August 3, 2012

“Although fewer people are unemployed now than a year ago, they are not migrating to full-time jobs for an employer. In fact, fewer Americans are working full-time for an employer than were doing so a year ago, and more Americans are working part time. Although part-time work is clearly better than no work at all, these are not the types of good jobs that millions of Americans are still searching for.”…Gallup March 7, 2013

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From the BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 22, 2013.

“Mass Layoffs Data Discontinued |

On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the-board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all “measuring green jobs” products. The final release of Mass Layoffs Statistics data will occur on June 21st, with publication of the May 2013 data.”

"MASS LAYOFFS -- FEBRUARY 2013

Employers took 1,422 mass layoff actions in February involving 135,468 workers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (Data are seasonally adjusted.) Each mass layoff involved at least 50 workers from a single employer. Mass layoff events increased by 94 from January, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 1,442. In
February, 295 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector resulting in 39,407 initial claims. Monthly mass layoff data are identified using administrative data sources without regard to layoff duration."

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.nr0.htm