Mass Layoffs...

BLS reports:

The Good...

The number of mass layoff events in March increased by 58 from the prior month, while the number of associated initial claims decreased by 4,854. The number of events has decreased in 5 of the last 7 months, and the number of initial claims has decreased in 6 of the last 7 months. In March, 356 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 39,290 initial claims. Both figures registered their lowest levels since August 2007.

The Bad...

During the 28 months from December 2007 through March 2010, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 56,937, and the associated number of initial claims was 5,731,683. (December 2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.)

So the trend is moving down, which is clearly good news. But after a whopping 5.7 million mass layoffs over the past year and a half, it is amazing to me that we are still above the median level of mass layoffs of the last 15 years (i.e. at what point have businesses already cut off all the "low hanging fruit").