Alabama Layoffs — November 1998

Employers in Alabama posted 4 WARN Act notices in November 1998, affecting an estimated 2,055 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to October. The average filing covered 514 workers, with 4 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Manufacturing	2	1,691

The Manufacturing sector saw the heaviest impact with 1,691 workers across 2 notices.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
Colbert	1	1,600
Morgan	1	282
Crenshaw	1	91
Elmore	1	82

Colbert saw the most concentrated activity, accounting for 78% of all affected workers with 1,600 workers across 1 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Muscle Shoals	1	1,600
Decatur	1	282
Brantley	1	91
Tallassee	1	82

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Closure	4	2,055

The high proportion of closures (100% of affected workers) suggests structural shifts rather than temporary cutbacks in Alabama's labor market.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Reynolds Metals Company	Muscle Shoals	1,600	Closure	1998-11-02
Rust Constructors, Inc	Decatur	282	Closure	1998-11-19
American Apparel, Inc	Brantley	91	Closure	1998-11-10
Auburn Sportswear	Tallassee	82	Closure	1998-11-03

The largest notice was filed by Reynolds Metals Company at its Muscle Shoals facility, reporting 1,600 affected workers. Rust Constructors, Inc followed with 282 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.

The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Alabama labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Manufacturing sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Alabama. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers with 100+ employees to provide 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs and plant closings. Data is updated daily by WARN Firehose. View all Alabama WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.