Employers in Iowa posted 16 WARN Act notices in September 2018, affecting an estimated 519 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to August and up 287% versus September 2017. The average filing covered 32 workers, with 5 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 3 | 72 |
| Finance & Insurance | 2 | 70 |
| Information & Technology | 1 | 2 |
The Agriculture sector saw the heaviest impact with 72 workers across 3 notices. On a related front, Finance & Insurance reported 70 workers.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Jones | 2 | 140 |
| Guthrie | 2 | 92 |
| Polk | 2 | 70 |
| Cass | 2 | 66 |
| Dubuque | 2 | 50 |
Jones saw the most concentrated activity, accounting for 27% of all affected workers with 140 workers across 2 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Monticello | 2 | 140 |
| Adair | 2 | 92 |
| West Des Moines | 2 | 70 |
| Atlantic | 2 | 66 |
| Dubuque | 2 | 50 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Closure | 5 | 179 |
| Layoff | 2 | 79 |
Closures accounted for 34% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medplast/Viant | Monticello | 70 | Closure | 2018-09-14 |
| Medplast/Viant | Monticello | 70 | 2018-09-14 | |
| Owner Revolution Inc. - Schafer Systems, Inc | Adair | 46 | Layoff | 2018-09-25 |
| Owner Revolution Inc. - Schafer Systems, Inc | Adair | 46 | 2018-09-25 | |
| Broker Dealer Financial Services | West Des Moines | 35 | Closure | 2018-09-19 |
| Broker Dealer Financial Services | West Des Moines | 35 | 2018-09-19 | |
| Owner Revolution Inc. - Connect A Doc | Atlantic | 33 | Layoff | 2018-09-25 |
| Owner Revolution Inc. - Connect A Doc | Atlantic | 33 | 2018-09-25 | |
| Eurest Services @ John Deere Dubuque | Dubuque | 25 | Closure | 2018-09-05 |
| Eurest Services @ John Deere Davenport Works | Davenport | 25 | Closure | 2018-09-05 |
| John Deere | Dubuque | 25 | 2018-09-05 | |
| VeroBlue Farms | Fort Dodge | 24 | Closure | 2018-09-21 |
| Vero Blue Farms | Webster City | 24 | 2018-09-21 | |
| VeroBlue Farms | Fort Dodge | 24 | 2018-09-21 | |
| General Dynamics Information Technology | Coralville | 2 | 2018-09-18 |
The largest notice was filed by Medplast/Viant at its Monticello facility, reporting 70 affected workers. Medplast/Viant followed with 70 workers.
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Iowa labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Agriculture sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.
This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Iowa. 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 Iowa WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.
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