The number of mass layoff events--50 employees or more laid off in a single event--declined from December to January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  There were 2,227 mass layoff events last month, compared to 2,275 in December.  But the number of people who lost jobs in these layoffs increased to 237, 902--11,785 over December figures. 

The total number of events is up by nearly 50% over January 2008.  "Temporary help services" had the highest number of inital claims of any industry with 25, 467, but overall, manufacturing jobs were hit the worst.

The manufacturing sector accounted for 38 percent of all mass layoff events and 44 percent of initial claims filed in January 2009; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 30 percent of events and 35 percent of initial claims. This January, the number of manufacturing claimants was greatest in transportation equipment (57,173) and machinery (14,120). (See table 3.) The administrative and waste services industry accounted for 12 percent of mass layoff events and associated initial claims during the month.

The South was the hardest hit region (among the 4 census regions) in January with 115,630 jobs lost in mass layoffs.   The Midwest lost 114,195 jobs to mass layoffs, compared to 81, 846 in the West and 77,142 in the Northeast.  You can get the full data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website here.