Employers in California logged 138 WARN Act notices in January 2020, involving roughly 5,949 workers — climbing above December and down 10% versus January 2019. The average filing covered 43 workers, with 33 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare | 29 | 654 |
| Transportation | 14 | 427 |
| Manufacturing | 4 | 163 |
| Accommodation & Food | 2 | 100 |
| Professional Services | 2 | 72 |
The Healthcare sector dominated layoff filings with 654 workers across 29 notices. Meanwhile, Transportation reported 427 workers.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 17 | 1,617 |
| Los Angeles | 15 | 868 |
| Orange | 10 | 730 |
| Kern | 5 | 626 |
| Sacramento | 2 | 453 |
Santa Clara saw the most concentrated activity, accounting for 27% of all affected workers with 1,617 workers across 17 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 6 | 660 |
| Sacramento | 1 | 453 |
| Cypress | 2 | 338 |
| Taft | 1 | 332 |
| Santa Clara | 3 | 288 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 34 | 3,487 |
| Closure | 33 | 2,462 |
Closures accounted for 41% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FedEx Ground | Sacramento | 453 | Layoff | 2020-01-30 |
| Management & Training Corporation | Taft | 332 | Closure | 2020-01-31 |
| Acme Player Services, LLC | Cypress | 313 | Layoff | 2020-01-27 |
| SunSelect Produce (California) Inc | Tehachapi | 236 | Closure | 2020-01-06 |
| Vmware Inc | Palo Alto | 211 | Layoff | 2020-01-30 |
| Safran Cabin Galleys US, Inc | Huntington Beach | 180 | Layoff | 2020-01-27 |
| Zume, Inc | Mountain View | 172 | Layoff | 2020-01-09 |
| Shutterfly, LLC | Redwood City | 153 | Layoff | 2020-01-30 |
| Adventist Health Hanford | Hanford | 152 | Closure | 2020-01-13 |
| Sodexo, Inc and Affiliates | Los Angeles | 150 | Closure | 2020-01-14 |
| Weber Metals, Inc | Paramount | 150 | Layoff | 2020-01-23 |
| Kateeva, Inc | Newark | 144 | Layoff | 2020-01-30 |
| Le Boulanger, Inc | Sunnyvale | 143 | Closure | 2020-01-02 |
| Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp | San Jose | 139 | Closure | 2020-01-14 |
| Smithfield Packaged Meatd Corp. ("the Company") | San Jose | 139 | Closure | 2020-01-23 |
The biggest impact was at FedEx Ground at its Sacramento facility, reporting 453 affected workers. Management & Training Corporation followed with 332 workers.
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
This data points to a mixed picture for California's labor market, with activity diverging between monthly and annual comparisons. The Healthcare 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.
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