Virginia Layoffs — March 2020

Employers in Virginia reported 136 WARN Act notices in March 2020, displacing an estimated 14,445 workers — signaling an acceleration from February and up 1722% versus March 2019. The average filing covered 106 workers, with 4 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

The Accommodation & Food sector topped the list of affected industries with 9,995 workers across 72 notices. Notably, Manufacturing reported 1,023 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

Fairfax was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 37% of all affected workers with 5,349 workers across 38 notices.

Layoff Type Analysis

Closures accounted for 1% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.

Largest Layoffs

The most significant filing came from Bloomin' Brands (Outback Steakhouse) at its Fredericksburg facility, reporting 524 affected workers. Bloomin' Brands (Outback Steakhouse) followed with 455 workers.

Trend & Outlook

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

The numbers illustrate mounting pressure on the Virginia 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 Virginia. 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 Virginia WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.