US Layoffs — July 2023

The US labor market showed signs of rising strain as employers posted 396 WARN Act notices in July 2023, affecting an estimated 52,401 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to June and up 164% versus July 2022. Filings came from 39 states and territories, with an average of 132 workers per notice.

Top States by Workers Affected

Idaho led the nation with 22,102 workers affected across 2 notices , followed by California (7,700 workers) and Illinois (3,264 workers) .

Industry Breakdown

The Transportation sector saw the heaviest impact with 13,039 workers across 103 notices. On a related front, Manufacturing reported 4,423 workers.

Layoff Type Analysis

Closures accounted for 28% of all affected workers nationally, with the majority of events being layoffs rather than full closures.

Largest Layoffs

The largest notice was filed by Yellow Corporations in Idaho, reporting 22,000 affected workers. Yellow followed with 2,900 workers.

Trend & Outlook

This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.

The trends suggest mounting pressure on the the nation labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Transportation sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

This report covers all WARN Act filings with notice dates in July 2023. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers with 100+ employees to provide 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs and plant closings. Data is sourced from official state filings and updated daily by WARN Firehose, which also tracks SEC 8-K filings, bankruptcy proceedings, H-1B visa petitions, and unemployment claims across all six datasets. API access and data exports available.