(RTTNews) - Mass layoff events showed a substantial increase in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, with both layoff events and separations reaching their highest levels on record.

The report showed that employers initiated 3,140 mass layoff events in the fourth quarter, nearly double the 1,582 mass layoff events in the third quarter and up more than 70 percent from the 1,814 mass layoff events in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

The layoffs resulted in 508,859 separations in the fourth quarter compared to 290,052 in the previous quarter and 301,592 in the same quarter a year ago.

With the increases, mass layoff events and separations reached their highest levels in program history, although the data is only available back to 1995.

Record highs in both the number of layoff events and separations in the construction and manufacturing industries contributed to substantial increases.

The Labor Department noted that separations due to business demand reasons more than doubled over the year to 207,609, with those related specifically to slack work/insufficient demand more than tripling to 152,279.

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