Employers in California posted 2164 WARN Act notices in March 2020, affecting an estimated 44,986 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to February and up 698% versus March 2019. The average filing covered 21 workers, with 85 closures among the notices.
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation & Food | 393 | 12,147 |
| Healthcare | 86 | 860 |
| Agriculture | 26 | 779 |
| Manufacturing | 66 | 523 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 65 | 461 |
| Transportation | 16 | 425 |
| Mining & Energy | 11 | 409 |
| Construction | 19 | 98 |
The Accommodation & Food sector saw the heaviest impact with 12,147 workers across 393 notices. On a related front, Healthcare reported 860 workers.
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 246 | 15,830 |
| San Diego | 170 | 6,379 |
| Orange | 46 | 3,185 |
| Monterey | 12 | 2,921 |
| Santa Clara | 29 | 2,204 |
Los Angeles absorbed the greatest share of layoffs, accounting for 35% of all affected workers with 15,830 workers across 246 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| San Diego | 27 | 4,150 |
| Los Angeles | 25 | 3,346 |
| Hawaiian Gardens | 1 | 1,900 |
| San Francisco | 13 | 1,837 |
| Culver City | 3 | 1,805 |
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 209 | 32,252 |
| Closure | 85 | 12,734 |
Closures accounted for 28% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Gardens Casino | Hawaiian Gardens | 1,900 | Layoff | 2020-03-27 |
| Pebble Beach Company | Pebble Beach | 1,800 | Closure | 2020-03-23 |
| YogaWorks | Culver City | 1,514 | Layoff | 2020-03-23 |
| Bicycle Casino, L.P | Bell Gardens | 1,500 | Layoff | 2020-03-16 |
| LAZ Parking California, LLC | San Diego | 943 | Layoff | 2020-03-30 |
| Manchester Grand Hyatt | San Diego | 688 | Layoff | 2020-03-27 |
| Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership | Santa Clara | 613 | Closure | 2020-03-27 |
| Carmel Valley Ranch | Carmel | 600 | Closure | 2020-03-25 |
| Forty-Niner Shops, Inc | Long Beach | 562 | Closure | 2020-03-30 |
| Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership and Rank and Rally LLC | Mammoth Lakes | 548 | Layoff | 2020-03-19 |
| Claremont Hotel Properties, LLC | Berkeley | 514 | Layoff | 2020-03-27 |
| The Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel | Huntington Beach | 502 | Layoff | 2020-03-25 |
| Park Hyatt Aviara | Carlsbad | 496 | Layoff | 2020-03-25 |
| DMSD Restaurants, Inc. dba Denny's | Murrieta | 492 | Layoff | 2020-03-21 |
| Hyatt Regency San Francisco | San Francisco | 469 | Layoff | 2020-03-21 |
The largest notice was filed by Hawaiian Gardens Casino at its Hawaiian Gardens facility, reporting 1,900 affected workers. Pebble Beach Company followed with 1,800 workers.
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the California labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Accommodation & Food 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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