Louisiana Layoffs — February 2009

Employers in Louisiana reported 4 WARN Act notices in February 2009, displacing an estimated 1,573 workers — signaling an acceleration from January and up 769% versus February 2008. The average filing covered 393 workers, with 0 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Other	2	1,454
Mining & Energy	1	115
Manufacturing	1	4

The Other sector topped the list of affected industries with 1,454 workers across 2 notices. Notably, Mining & Energy reported 115 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
Union	1	1,294
Jefferson	1	160
Calcasieu	1	4

Union was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 82% of all affected workers with 1,294 workers across 1 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Farmerville	1	1,294
New Orleans	1	160
Houston	1	115
Sulphur	1	4

Layoff Type Analysis

Layoff type classification was not available for filings in Louisiana this month.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Pilgrim's Pride	Farmerville	1,294		2009-02-27
Lockheed Martin	New Orleans	160		2009-02-02
Pride Offshore Inc	Houston	115		2009-02-19
Equistar	Sulphur	4		2009-02-26

The most significant filing came from Pilgrim's Pride at its Farmerville facility, reporting 1,294 affected workers. Lockheed Martin followed with 160 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.

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

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