Employers in Washington submitted 8 WARN Act notices in February 2014, putting at risk an estimated 397 workers — up substantially from January and up 289% versus February 2013. The average filing covered 50 workers, with 4 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Retail | 1 | 35 |
The Retail sector emerged as the hardest-hit sector with 35 workers across 1 notice.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 4 | 183 |
King was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 46% of all affected workers with 183 workers across 4 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 4 | 183 |
| Bellevue & Kirkland | 1 | 91 |
| Puget Sound | 2 | 88 |
| Statewide | 1 | 35 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 4 | 245 |
| Closure | 4 | 152 |
Closures accounted for 38% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint | Bellevue & Kirkland | 91 | Layoff | 2014-02-11 |
| Boeing | Puget Sound | 79 | Layoff | 2014-02-18 |
| Sears | Seattle | 66 | Layoff | 2014-02-20 |
| Zynga Inc | Seattle | 52 | Closure | 2014-02-11 |
| Pepsi | Seattle | 52 | Closure | 2014-02-25 |
| N-Store Merchandising | Statewide | 35 | Closure | 2014-02-11 |
| Sears | Seattle | 13 | Closure | 2014-02-20 |
| Boeing | Puget Sound | 9 | Layoff | 2014-02-03 |
Topping the list was Sprint at its Bellevue & Kirkland facility, reporting 91 affected workers. Boeing followed with 79 workers.
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
These figures highlight mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Retail 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.
Get weekly layoff reports in your inbox
Free weekly digest of WARN Act filings and analysis.
