Washington Layoffs — April 2013

Employers in Washington posted 5 WARN Act notices in April 2013, affecting an estimated 1,160 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to March and up 243% versus April 2012. The average filing covered 232 workers, with 3 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Healthcare	1	43

The Healthcare sector saw the heaviest impact with 43 workers across 1 notice.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
King	1	45
Pierce	1	43
Whatcom	1	34

King saw the most concentrated activity, accounting for 4% of all affected workers with 45 workers across 1 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Puget Sound	2	1,038
Seattle	1	45
Tacoma	1	43
Bellingham	1	34

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Layoff	2	1,038
Closure	3	122

Closures accounted for 11% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Boeing	Puget Sound	939	Layoff	2013-04-08
Boeing	Puget Sound	99	Layoff	2013-04-23
First A.M.E. Child Development Center	Seattle	45	Closure	2013-04-10
Comprehensive Clinical Development NW	Tacoma	43	Closure	2013-04-17
Sargento	Bellingham	34	Closure	2013-04-11

The largest notice was filed by Boeing at its Puget Sound facility, reporting 939 affected workers. Boeing followed with 99 workers.

Trend & Outlook

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 Healthcare 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.