How many people are laid off in Massachusetts each month?
About 40 thousand in December 2024. This includes all terminations of employment by an employer — called layoffs and discharges — such as permanent layoffs, temporary layoffs, and terminations because of mergers, downsizing, closings, or employee performance.
Data updated February 26, 2025
40K
people were laid off or discharged in Massachusetts in December 2024
429K
layoffs and discharges in Massachusetts in 2024 so far
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 545,000 layoffs and discharges a year in Massachusetts. Increases in layoffs often reflect recessions or other economic disruption. For example, record-setting layoffs and discharges occurred in March and April of 2020 because of COVID-19. So far in 2024, layoffs and discharges total 429,000 in Massachusetts, which is 12.3% higher than the same period in 2023.
In Massachusetts, layoffs were 12.3% higher by December 2024 than by December 2023.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in Massachusetts, seasonally adjusted
Another way to consider this data is to look at the layoff and discharge rate. This puts layoffs and discharges in the context of the total number of people working by showing layoffs and discharges as a percent of employed people who were laid off during the given time period. This rate allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.
Massachusetts’s layoff rate increased between November and December 2024
Seasonally adjusted US and Massachusetts monthly layoff and discharge rates, Dec. 2000–Dec. 2024
In December 2024, 1.1% of people employed in Massachusetts were laid off or discharged, a higher rate as November. Compared to the national numbers, the December 2024 rate in Massachusetts was the same, meaning the same share of the Massachusetts working population was laid off or dismissed in December 2024 compared to the US overall.
Average layoff and discharge rates are also useful to consider because they smooth out short-term fluctuations and clarify long-term trends.
In December 2024, Massachusetts’s 12-month average layoff rate was lower than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and Massachusetts, Nov. 2001–Dec. 2024
During the first 20 years of data, the 12-month average layoff and discharge rate in the US peaked at the end of the Great Recession in June 2009 at 1.8% and during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 at 2.4%. Massachusetts’ 12-month average layoff rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the US rate in June 2009 and 0.1 percentage points higher in May 2020.
As of December 2024, Massachusetts’ 12-month average layoff rate was lower than the US overall. At 1.0%, Massachusetts’ average layoff and discharge rate increased 0.2 percentage points compared to one year prior (January 2023–December 2023 average). The rate increased 0.2 percentage points compared to two years prior (January 2022–December 2022 average).
Change location to see this data for another state.
Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
