Mass layoffs take a smaller toll nationwide

Large and mid-size businesses continued to lay off workers through the end of 2009 but at a significantly slower pace, according to new U.S. employment data.

Citing organizational changes, financial concerns and lack of demand for their products, companies let 321,569 people go in what the federal government calls “mass layoffs” of more than 50 employees during the last three months of the year.

Among metropolitan areas, the Los Angeles-Orange County region was the hardest hit in the nation, losing about 19,000 jobs. It was followed by Chicago, New York, the Inland Empire and the San Francisco Bay Area.

But despite the losses, the data appear to show that the flow of pink slips from big and mid-size employers is starting to subside.

In California, for example, 395 companies laid off large numbers of employees from September through December. The 65,000 who lost their jobs in the state accounted for about a fifth of the total nationwide.

But that was considerably fewer than the 117,000 Californians who lost their jobs in large layoffs during July, August and September.

Nationwide, it was the first time in three years that the number of layoffs dropped from one quarter to the next. The nationwide toll for the third quarter was 345,367, about 7% more than in the fourth quarter.

“The loss of jobs that we’ve been seeing since December 2007 appears to be abating,” said Richard Holden, an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If the layoff tide is subsiding, it hasn’t dipped quickly enough for Samuel Lee, an Arcadia resident who is still looking for work after Siemens Corp. laid off hundreds of employees in Southern California and elsewhere last fall.

The engineering giant had bought a number of smaller companies, including Diagnostic Products Corp., a Los Angeles company that made pregnancy tests and other medical assessment kits.

Lee, who worked as a manager in quality control, said he was let go along with his colleagues as the two companies combined.

He’s still tracking down leads, but the 37-year-old said that when recruiters tell him hiring is picking up, he has his doubts.

“When you work in science for many years, you have to be very skeptical,” Lee said. “I’ll see how it goes.”

Last week, he said, he applied for a job only to learn that a former co-worker was also a candidate.

“The following day I happened to be talking to him,” Lee said. “Then I decided not to have too much hope.”

Farmers Insurance Group and other Southern California companies also laid off workers during the quarter.

The measure of mass layoffs is important because it indicates the degree to which large and mid-size companies are struggling, Holden said. Metropolitan areas are particularly hard-hit by these larger incidents of downsizing, because big companies are typically in major cities.

Nationwide, the manufacturing sector accounted for about a quarter of the total layoffs, as 83,700 workers lost their jobs.

Construction firms laid off about 83,000. And 26,000 hotel and restaurant employees and 10,100 retail workers were also cut.

sharon.bernstein@

latimes.com