Washington Layoffs — March 2016

Employers in Washington recorded 25 WARN Act notices in March 2016, covering approximately 1,111 workers — marking a sharp increase from February and up 407% versus March 2015. The average filing covered 44 workers, with 11 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Retail	9	469
Finance & Insurance	3	111
Education	4	76

The Retail sector accounted for the largest share of job cuts with 469 workers across 9 notices. At the same time, Finance & Insurance reported 111 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
King	6	476
Pierce	3	216
Whatcom	3	175
Clallam	2	134
Clark	2	2

King felt the sharpest impact, accounting for 43% of all affected workers with 476 workers across 6 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Redmond	3	329
Bellingham	3	175
Puyallup	2	156
Port Angeles	2	134
Burien	2	108

Layoff Type Analysis

Type	Notices	Workers
Closure	11	853
Layoff	1	1

The high proportion of closures (77% of affected workers) suggests structural shifts rather than temporary cutbacks in Washington's labor market.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Xerox Commercial Solutioins	Redmond	325	Closure	2016-03-07
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Puyallup	78	Closure	2016-03-11
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Puyallup	78		2016-03-11
Apollo Education Group, Inc. (AEG)	Seattle	72	Closure	2016-03-02
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Federal Way	71	Closure	2016-03-09
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Port Angeles	67	Closure	2016-03-11
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Port Angeles	67		2016-03-11
Albertson's LLC	Bellingham	65	Closure	2016-03-07
Locating Inc	Lakewood	60	Closure	2016-03-08
Sterling Life Insurance Company	Bellingham	55	Closure	2016-03-16
Sterling Life Insurance Company	Bellingham	55		2016-03-16
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Burien	54	Closure	2016-03-09
Haggen Food & Pharmacy	Burien	54		2016-03-09
University of Phoenix	Seattle	4	Closure	2016-03-02
Mycom North America	Redmond	2	Closure	2016-03-22

Leading the list was Xerox Commercial Solutioins at its Redmond facility, reporting 325 affected workers. Haggen Food & Pharmacy followed with 78 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.

The filings reflect 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.