North Dakota Layoffs — March 2020

Employers in North Dakota reported 5 WARN Act notices in March 2020, displacing an estimated 729 workers. The average filing covered 146 workers, with 0 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

Industry	Notices	Workers
Utilities	2	242
Manufacturing	1	77

The Utilities sector topped the list of affected industries with 242 workers across 2 notices. Notably, Manufacturing reported 77 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

County	Notices	Workers
Williams	1	212
Stark	1	146
Cass	1	77

Williams was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 29% of all affected workers with 212 workers across 1 notices.

City	Notices	Workers
Williston	1	212
Grand Forks & Dickinson	1	198
Belfield	1	146
Ross & Watford City	1	96
Fargo	1	77

Layoff Type Analysis

Layoff type classification was not available for filings in North Dakota this month.

Largest Layoffs

Company	City	Workers	Type	Date
Calfrac Well Services Corp	Williston	212		2020-03-25
Steffes	Grand Forks & Dickinson	198		2020-03-24
MBI Energy Services	Belfield	146		2020-03-16
MBI Energy Services	Ross & Watford City	96		2020-03-16
Novum Pharmaceutical	Fargo	77		2020-03-27

The most significant filing came from Calfrac Well Services Corp at its Williston facility, reporting 212 affected workers. Steffes followed with 198 workers.

Trend & Outlook

After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.

The numbers illustrate mounting pressure on the North Dakota labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Utilities sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by North Dakota. 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 North Dakota WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.