Employers in Washington recorded 11 WARN Act notices in November 2008, covering approximately 4,375 workers — marking a sharp increase from October and up 954% versus November 2007. The average filing covered 398 workers, with 5 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation | 2 | 431 |
The Transportation sector accounted for the largest share of job cuts with 431 workers across 2 notices.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 6 | 4,053 |
| Lewis | 1 | 52 |
| Pierce | 1 | 34 |
| Kitsap | 1 | 31 |
| Thurston | 1 | 18 |
King absorbed the greatest share of layoffs, accounting for 93% of all affected workers with 4,053 workers across 6 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 4 | 3,614 |
| Renton | 1 | 430 |
| Kent, Bothell, Bellevue, Fife | 1 | 187 |
| Chehalis | 1 | 52 |
| Tacoma | 1 | 34 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 6 | 4,053 |
| Closure | 5 | 322 |
Closures accounted for 7% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Mutual | Seattle | 3,400 | Layoff | 2008-11-12 |
| Kenworth Trucking | Renton | 430 | Layoff | 2008-11-14 |
| DHL Express | Kent, Bothell, Bellevue, Fife | 187 | Closure | 2008-11-19 |
| Seattle Times | Seattle | 145 | Layoff | 2008-11-05 |
| DHL Express | Seattle | 68 | Layoff | 2008-11-19 |
| ABX Air | Chehalis | 52 | Closure | 2008-11-14 |
| CDG Management | Tacoma | 34 | Closure | 2008-11-24 |
| BAE Systems | Bremerton | 31 | Closure | 2008-11-07 |
| CDG Management | Olympia | 18 | Closure | 2008-11-24 |
| Sun Microsystems, Inc | Bellevue | 9 | Layoff | 2008-11-06 |
| American Airlines | Seattle | 1 | Layoff | 2008-11-19 |
Leading the list was Washington Mutual at its Seattle facility, reporting 3,400 affected workers. Kenworth Trucking followed with 430 workers.
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
The filings reflect mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Transportation sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.
This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Washington. 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 WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.
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