Number of displaced workers declines

Between January 2011 and the end of last year, an estimated 4.3 million U.S. workers lost jobs they had held for at least three years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That was a decline from 6.1 million workers who suffered the same predicament between January 2009 through December 2011, the previous survey period, according to a report the bureau released Tuesday.

As of January, 61 percent of workers who lost their jobs from 2011 to 2013 had found other employment, a five percent increase from the previous survey period, the report stated.

The bureau, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor, defines displaced workers as anyone 20 years old or older who lost their job because their company closed or moved, there was not enough work for them to do or their position or shift was eliminated.

Most of the 36 months in the survey were characterized by job growth, according to the study.