Characteristics of Initial Claimants

In 2006, there were 83 mass layoff actions* taken by Rhode Island employers as measured by new filings for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. The events involved a total of 10,817 persons who filed initial claims for UI benefits accounting for nearly 15 percent of all initial claims (76,453) during 2006 . Fourteen (16.9%) of the 83 layoff actions that occurred during the year were classified as long-term layoffs (layoffs expected to last for more than 30 days).

Nineteen (30.6%) of the mass layoff events occurred in the Manufacturing sector. These 19 events were linked to 15 Rhode Island establishments. The majority (15) of these layoff events were classified as temporary, meaning the layoff lasted less than 31 days. Four layoff events in this sector were classified as long-term layoffs and affected less than 300 workers.

Layoff Events by Major Industry
	Events	Initial Claims
Total	83	10,817
Accommodation & Food Services	12	3,146
Administrative & Waste Services	10	717
Construction	5	351
Finance & Insurance	4	194
Government	5	330
Health Care & Social Assistance	4	372
Manufacturing	19	1,696
Transportation & Warehousing	16	3,436
Other Industry Sectors	8	575

The Transportation & Warehousing sector recorded the second largest number of mass layoff events. These 16 events, occurring in 2006, resulted in the filing of 3,436 initial claims. Representing a decrease from the 2005 figures of 18 mass layoff events and 3,848 initial claims. Less than 3 percent of these claims were associated with a long-term mass layoff.

There were 12 mass layoff events associated with employers classified in the Accommodation & Food Services sector involving 3,146 Rhode Island workers. The majority of these layoffs were short-term with less than 3 percent related to events lasting more than 30 days.

The Administrative & Waste Services sector had 10 mass layoff events resulting in the filing of 717 initial claims. All layoffs in this sector were reported as temporary.

The Construction sector accounted for five events resulting in 351 initial claims. Only 22 percent of these claimants were part of long-term layoffs. Both the Finance & Insurance sector and the Health Care & Social Assistance sector had four events involving a total of 566 Rhode Island workers.

Initial Claims by Age Pie Chart

Gender

In total there were 76,453 initial claims filed for UI benefits during the year. Men filed claims at a slightly higher rate (51.9%) than women who accounted for 48.1 percent of initial claims filed during 2006. This pattern does not differ from the Rhode Island’s civilian labor force composition of males (51.5%) and females (48.4%).

Age

Representing the largest number of initial claims were individuals between the ages of 35 and 44 year. An additional 24 percent were between 45 and 54 years old.

Education

Forty-four percent (33,562) of the people filing initial claims reported having attained a high school diploma as their highest level of education. Sixteen percent (12,039) of the claimants had less than a high school diploma, while 12.5 percent (9,542) reported having at least a bachelor’s degree.