Finance and Economics Discussion Series (FEDS)

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August 2017

The Timing of Mass Layoff Episodes: Evidence from U.S. Microdata

Alison Weingarden

Abstract:

This paper studies employment decisions at U.S. companies over the 2007–2012 period, during and after the Great Recession. To this end, I build a panel dataset that matches publicly-listed companies' financial reports to their announced layoff episodes. Using limited dependent variable regressions, I find that layoffs respond to accumulated changes in a company's financial conditions. While recent financial changes have the largest impacts on layoff propensities, financial changes over at least four previous quarters appear to have additional marginal effects.

Accessible materials (.zip)

Keywords: Downsizing, Employment adjustment costs

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2017.088

PDF: Full Paper

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Last Update: January 09, 2020