The latest surveys, however, may understate the frequency of permanent layoffs in recent years, some economists say.

If the answer is yes to any of these alternatives, the job loss becomes a permanent layoff.

But over the years, permanent layoffs have increasingly come in other guises.

The second figure is for "other job losses," a category that measures permanent layoffs.

That dispute ended with massive, permanent layoffs and very modest wage increases for the rest of the 1980's.

No employees will be subject to permanent layoff, G.M. said.

The alternative, city officials said, would be 369 permanent layoffs in late December.

With the American economy enjoying its longest economic expansion on record, the number of permanent layoffs declined over the last three years, the government reported yesterday.

Here, so-called "permanent layoffs" have long been accepted as a necessary cost of investing in capital-intensive production.

The early evidence suggests that during this slowdown companies are relying heavily on cutbacks other than permanent layoffs.