Employers in Washington posted 6 WARN Act notices in February 2009, affecting an estimated 2,403 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to January and up 113% versus February 2008. The average filing covered 400 workers, with 4 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Information & Technology | 1 | 369 |
The Information & Technology sector saw the heaviest impact with 369 workers across 1 notice.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 2 | 451 |
| Whatcom | 1 | 150 |
King was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 19% of all affected workers with 451 workers across 2 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Puget Sound | 2 | 1,449 |
| Redmond | 1 | 369 |
| Spokane Valley | 1 | 353 |
| Bellingham | 1 | 150 |
| Kent | 1 | 82 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 2 | 1,449 |
| Closure | 4 | 954 |
Closures accounted for 40% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing | Puget Sound | 781 | Layoff | 2009-02-25 |
| Boeing | Puget Sound | 668 | Layoff | 2009-02-05 |
| TTM Technologies | Redmond | 369 | Closure | 2009-02-05 |
| General Dynamics | Spokane Valley | 353 | Closure | 2009-02-25 |
| Results Bellingham | Bellingham | 150 | Closure | 2009-02-12 |
| Best Buy | Kent | 82 | Closure | 2009-02-12 |
The largest notice was filed by Boeing at its Puget Sound facility, reporting 781 affected workers. Boeing followed with 668 workers.
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Information & Technology 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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