Number: RL30799
Title: Unemployment Through Layoffs and Offshore Outsourcing
Authors: Linda Levine, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: This report reviews the various databases that provide information on layoffs. It then more closely examines results from the above-described BLS program. In brief, the BLS series shows that outsourcing - particularly of work moving offshore - is uncommon in extended mass layoffs and accounts for fairly few separated workers. Relocation of work most often occurs within the United States and within the same company. Most workers separated in extended mass layoff events involving domestic or offshore outsourcing had been employed by manufacturers. Employer restructuring (bankruptcy, business ownership change, financial difficulty, and reorganization within a company) typically accounts for a majority of these layoffs as well. In extended mass layoffs associated with the movement of work offshore, jobs most often are shifted to Mexico and China.
Pages: 7
Date: January 11, 2008