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Like each previous one since 1995, Novembers mass layoff report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offers an analysis of new jobless claims by industry and geographic area. The monthly reportused by demographers, economists, as well as industry and employment specialistsprovided invaluable data to determine trends. But the November report will be the last of its kind, now that the program has been scrapped for lack of funds.

More than 2,100 workers were laid off in November, with manufacturing industries the most affected. The final report, dated December 24, announces the programs "discontinuation" as of December 31.

Labor leaders have denounced the loss of the program as a resource to track job losses and plant closings by industry. The move is all the more stinging on the heels of a U.S. Labor Department decision to expand reporting rules for union financesa requirement that imposes stricter disclosure standards than on corporations.

IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill said the end of the mass layoff report program also serves another purpose. "Its much easier for the Bush administration to say that the economys improving if there are no reports out there to prove them wrong."

A federal-state statistical effort, the program used a standardized approach to identify, describe and track the effects of major job cutbacks, using data from each state's unemployment insurance figures. States used the information to allocate federal funds from the Economic Development and the Worker Adjustment Assistance Act. The data were also used to determine ailing industries or geographical areas, the causes and scope of worker dislocation, the development of programs to assist workers at the local level and to spot potential labor markets.

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