Employers in Washington submitted 12 WARN Act notices in December 2019, putting at risk an estimated 1,392 workers — up substantially from November and up 167% versus December 2018. The average filing covered 116 workers, with 4 closures among the notices.
Industry classification was not available for filings in Washington this month. A total of 1,392 workers were affected across 12 notices.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 8 | 990 |
| Yakima | 2 | 402 |
King was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 71% of all affected workers with 990 workers across 8 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 6 | 906 |
| Wapato | 2 | 402 |
| Bothell | 2 | 84 |
| Purchase dataset for city details | 2 | 0 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Closure | 4 | 612 |
| Layoff | 1 | 84 |
Closures accounted for 44% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macy's | Seattle | 236 | Closure | 2019-12-17 |
| Macy's | Seattle | 236 | 2019-12-17 | |
| Vanguard Int'l Group, dba Pride Packing Co LLC | Wapato | 201 | Closure | 2019-12-17 |
| Vanguard Int'l Group, dba Pride Packing Co LLC | Wapato | 201 | 2019-12-17 | |
| Northwestern Industries, Inc | Seattle | 133 | Closure | 2019-12-30 |
| Northwestern Industries | Seattle | 133 | 2019-12-30 | |
| VICIS, Inc | Seattle | 84 | Layoff | 2019-12-30 |
| Vicis | Seattle | 84 | 2019-12-30 | |
| Seattle Times - North Creek | Bothell | 42 | Closure | 2019-12-31 |
| Seattle Times | Bothell | 42 | 2019-12-31 | |
| Macy's | Purchase dataset for city details | N/A | 2019-12-17 | |
| Vanguard Int'l Group, dba Pride Packing Co LLC | Purchase dataset for city details | N/A | 2019-12-17 |
Topping the list was Macy's at its Seattle facility, reporting 236 affected workers. Macy's followed with 236 workers.
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
These figures highlight mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks.
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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