Although April saw a net gain in the number of jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that 1,856 so-called mass layoff actions also took place. A mass layoff action is defined as an event in which more than 50 jobs are cut by one employer. In all, the mass layoffs accounted for 200,870 workers who lost their jobs.

427, or 23% of the mass layoff events took place in the manufacturing sector. During the same month in 2009, the manufacturing sector accounted for 35% of mass layoff events.

Since the start of the recession in 2007, mass layoff events have accounted for some 6 million jobs lost out of a total of approximately 8.5 million layoffs throughout the economy.