California Layoffs — February 2016

Employers in California filed 126 WARN Act notices in February 2016, impacting roughly 11,115 workers — representing a pullback from January and down 10% versus February 2015. The average filing covered 88 workers, with 42 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Education	5	359
Information & Technology	8	282
Healthcare	4	265
Retail	4	214
Mining & Energy	2	128
Utilities	2	94
Manufacturing	2	86
Agriculture	1	73

The Education sector led the way in workforce reductions with 359 workers across 5 notices. In a parallel development, Information & Technology reported 282 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
Orange	12	3,039
San Francisco	18	1,359
Los Angeles	31	1,286
Santa Clara	19	1,246
Napa	2	652

Orange bore the heaviest burden, accounting for 27% of all affected workers with 3,039 workers across 12 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Santa Ana	2	1,938
San Francisco	18	1,359
Irvine	3	703
Yountville	2	652
Truckee	2	506

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Layoff	82	7,318
Closure	41	3,314
Temporary Closure	1	253
Temporary Layoff	2	230

Closures accounted for 32% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Freedom Communications, Inc	Santa Ana	969	Layoff	2016-02-18
Freedom Communications, Inc	Santa Ana	969	Layoff	2016-02-24
Broadcom and Avago	Irvine	689	Layoff	2016-02-02
Vintage Estates	Yountville	326	Layoff	2016-02-19
Vintage Estates	Yountville	326	Layoff	2016-02-22
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe	Truckee	253	Temporary Closure	2016-02-11
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe	Truckee	253	Closure	2016-02-16
Bae Systems	San Francisco	228	Temporary Layoff	2016-02-12
Bae Systems	San Francisco	228	Layoff	2016-02-22
Odwalla Inc	Dinuba	164	Closure	2016-02-16
Broadcom and Avago	Santa Clara	147	Layoff	2016-02-02
JCPenney	Cupertino	147	Closure	2016-02-03
JCPenney	Cupertino	147	Closure	2016-02-09
Blue Shield of California	El Dorado Hills	137	Layoff	2016-02-02
Kmart	Los Angeles	132	Closure	2016-02-25

The single largest action involved Freedom Communications, Inc at its Santa Ana facility, reporting 969 affected workers. Freedom Communications, Inc followed with 969 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This is the third consecutive month of declining layoff activity.

The data underscores a easing in workforce disruptions across California, with filings falling below both recent and year-ago levels. The Education sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

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