Washington DC Layoffs — October 2008

Employers in Washington DC reported 8 WARN Act notices in October 2008, displacing an estimated 1,159 workers — signaling an acceleration from September and up 298% versus October 2007. The average filing covered 145 workers, with 0 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Education	1	70
Utilities	1	50
Healthcare	1	47

The Education sector topped the list of affected industries with 70 workers across 1 notice. Notably, Utilities reported 50 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

Geographic details were not available for filings in Washington DC this month.

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Layoff	8	1,159

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Executive Office of the President		500	Layoff	2008-10-03
US Department of Commerce		150	Layoff	2008-10-22
Gate Gourmet, Inc		122	Layoff	2008-10-23
US Department of Transportation		110	Layoff	2008-10-24
US Department of Housing & Urban Development		110	Layoff	2008-10-24
US Department of Education		70	Layoff	2008-10-03
US Department of Energy		50	Layoff	2008-10-07
Revolution Health Group		47	Layoff	2008-10-03

The most significant filing came from Executive Office of the President at its Washington DC facility, reporting 500 affected workers. US Department of Commerce followed with 150 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.

The numbers illustrate mounting pressure on the Washington DC labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Education sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Washington DC. 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 Washington DC WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.