Employers in Washington posted 23 WARN Act notices in October 2019, affecting an estimated 1,992 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to September and up 134% versus October 2018. The average filing covered 87 workers, with 6 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Information & Technology | 2 | 236 |
| Education | 2 | 80 |
The Information & Technology sector saw the heaviest impact with 236 workers across 2 notices. On a related front, Education reported 80 workers.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 10 | 1,107 |
| Benton | 3 | 423 |
| Whatcom | 2 | 80 |
| Pierce | 2 | 14 |
King bore the heaviest burden, accounting for 56% of all affected workers with 1,107 workers across 10 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Prosser | 3 | 423 |
| Redmond | 4 | 390 |
| Seattle | 3 | 375 |
| Kent | 1 | 340 |
| Statewide | 2 | 236 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 4 | 347 |
| Closure | 6 | 302 |
Closures accounted for 15% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transdev, Inc | Kent | 340 | 2019-10-31 | |
| Keiro Northwest | Seattle | 259 | 2019-10-01 | |
| Zirkle Fruit Company | Prosser | 164 | Layoff | 2019-10-11 |
| Zirkle Fruit Company | Prosser | 164 | 2019-10-11 | |
| Applus Technologies Inc | Statewide | 118 | Layoff | 2019-10-23 |
| Applus Technologies Inc | Statewide | 118 | 2019-10-23 | |
| Wyndham Vacation Clubs | Redmond | 103 | Closure | 2019-10-03 |
| Wyndham Vacation Ownership | Redmond | 103 | 2019-10-03 | |
| Zirkle Fruit Company | Prosser | 95 | 2019-10-17 | |
| Clarisonic (aka Pacific Bioscience Laboratories and Pacific Bioscience Laboratories Products Inc) | Redmond | 92 | Closure | 2019-10-29 |
| Clarisonic (aka Pacific Bioscience Laboratories and Pacific Bioscience Laborator | Redmond | 92 | 2019-10-29 | |
| MV Transportation, Inc | Spokane Valley | 59 | Closure | 2019-10-29 |
| MV Transportation | Spokane Valley | 59 | 2019-10-29 | |
| Katerra | Seattle | 58 | Layoff | 2019-10-10 |
| Katerra | Seattle | 58 | 2019-10-10 |
The largest notice was filed by Transdev, Inc at its Kent facility, reporting 340 affected workers. Keiro Northwest followed with 259 workers.
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Information & Technology 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.
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