Washington Layoffs — February 2012

Employers in Washington posted 3 WARN Act notices in February 2012, affecting an estimated 347 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to January and up 7% versus February 2011. The average filing covered 116 workers, with 2 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry classification was not available for filings in Washington this month. A total of 347 workers were affected across 3 notices.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
King	1	79
Pierce	1	52

King was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 23% of all affected workers with 79 workers across 1 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Seattle, Mountlake Terrace	1	216
Kent	1	79
Gig Harbor	1	52

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Closure	2	295
Layoff	1	52

The high proportion of closures (85% of affected workers) suggests structural shifts rather than temporary cutbacks in Washington's labor market.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Swedish Visiting Nurse Services	Seattle, Mountlake Terrace	216	Closure	2012-02-28
Heinz North America	Kent	79	Closure	2012-02-10
CenturyLink	Gig Harbor	52	Layoff	2012-02-23

The largest notice was filed by Swedish Visiting Nurse Services at its Seattle, Mountlake Terrace facility, reporting 216 affected workers. Heinz North America followed with 79 workers.

Trend & Outlook

After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.

The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks.

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.