Every year, thousands of companies across the United States file layoff notices under federal and state WARN Acts. These filings are public record, but until now, accessing them meant navigating 50 different state websites with inconsistent formats, broken links, and no search functionality.
WARN Firehose changes that. We aggregate every WARN Act filing from every state into a single, searchable database updated daily. Here's everything you need to know about the WARN Act and how to use this data.
What Is the WARN Act?
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal law enacted in 1988 that requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar days advance notice before plant closings and mass layoffs. The law was designed to give workers and their families time to prepare for job losses.
A "plant closing" means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment resulting in the loss of 50 or more employees. A "mass layoff" means a reduction in force that is not the result of a plant closing and results in an employment loss of 500 or more employees, or 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the active workforce.
What Information Is in a WARN Notice?
Each WARN filing typically contains:
- Company name — the employer filing the notice
- Location — city, county, and state of the affected site
- Number of workers affected — how many employees will be laid off
- Type of action — layoff, closure, relocation, or combination
- Effective date — when the layoffs will begin
- Notice date — when the filing was submitted
- Industry — the sector or NAICS code (in many states)
Why Is WARN Data Valuable?
WARN Act filings are one of the few leading economic indicators that come directly from companies. Unlike unemployment claims (which are lagging) or jobs reports (which are monthly estimates), WARN notices tell you exactly which companies are cutting jobs, where, and when — often 60 days before it happens.
This makes WARN data uniquely valuable for:
- Journalists who need to break layoff stories before they become press releases
- Investors and hedge funds tracking restructuring signals across industries
- Recruiters identifying talent pools from displaced workers
- Researchers studying labor market dynamics and economic trends
- Workforce development boards planning rapid response programs
- Real estate analysts assessing market impact from major employers
The Problem: 50 States, 50 Formats
While the federal WARN Act sets minimum requirements, each state maintains its own system for collecting and publishing notices. Some states post PDFs. Others use spreadsheets. Some have searchable databases; many don't. Formats change without notice. Links break. Archives disappear.
For anyone trying to get a national picture of layoff activity, this fragmentation is a nightmare. You'd need to manually check 50+ websites, parse dozens of different formats, deduplicate entries, and normalize company names and locations.
The Solution: WARN Firehose
WARN Firehose solves this by automatically scraping every state workforce agency daily, normalizing the data into a clean, consistent schema, and making it available through multiple channels:
REST API
Our REST API gives you programmatic access to the full database. Filter by state, date range, company, industry, or layoff type. Get results in JSON, CSV, NDJSON, Parquet, or JSON-LD. Start with 100 free API calls per day, or upgrade for unlimited access.
Interactive Dashboard
The data dashboard lets you explore layoff trends visually with interactive charts, filterable tables, and downloadable exports. See national charts or drill into specific states and cities.
SEO Data Pages
Browse layoff data by state, city, company, and industry. Each page includes current statistics, historical trends, top employers, and AI-powered analysis of local labor market conditions.
Weekly Reports
Subscribe to weekly email digests that summarize new WARN filings, emerging trends, and notable layoff announcements across the country.
How to Get Started
- Browse for free — explore the dashboard, charts, and state pages with no account required
- Get a free API key — sign up at your account page for 100 API calls per day
- Upgrade for more — paid plans start at $19/month for full historical access and bulk exports
State WARN Act Variations
Several states have their own "mini-WARN" laws with stricter requirements than the federal act. For example:
- California requires notice for layoffs of 50+ employees regardless of workforce size
- New York requires 90 days notice (vs. 60 days federally)
- Illinois covers employers with 75+ employees (vs. 100 federally)
- New Jersey requires 90 days notice and covers mass layoffs of 50+ employees
These state variations mean that WARN data coverage is actually broader than what the federal law alone would require, capturing more layoffs and smaller employers in stricter states.
Historical Trends in WARN Data
WARN filings tell a vivid story of America's economic cycles:
| Period | Annual Notices | Workers Affected | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1,775 | 271,666 | Dot-com bust |
| 2008–2009 | 4,768 | 436,918 | Great Financial Crisis |
| 2020 | 29,392 | 3,961,109 | COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2023 | 8,201 | 869,745 | Tech sector correction |
| 2024 | 7,747 | 760,048 | Continued restructuring |
| 2025 | 8,756 | 804,167 | Current cycle |
The COVID-19 spike in 2020 dwarfs all other periods in WARN history, with nearly 4 million workers affected — 9x the Great Financial Crisis peak.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is WARN data public?
Yes. WARN Act filings are public records maintained by state workforce agencies. WARN Firehose simply aggregates and normalizes this publicly available information.
How current is the data?
We scrape every state workforce agency daily at 5 AM UTC. New filings typically appear in our database within 24 hours of being posted by the state.
Can I use this data commercially?
Yes. The underlying WARN data is public record. Our API and exports make it easy to integrate into commercial applications, research projects, and news reporting.
Do all layoffs show up in WARN data?
No. Only employers with 100+ employees (or fewer in states with stricter laws) are required to file. Small business layoffs, individual terminations, and some temporary layoffs may not appear. However, WARN captures the vast majority of significant layoff events in the US.
Ready to explore the data?
Start browsing at /data/layoffs or get your free API key at /account.