WARN Act mass layoff and plant closure notices in Schaumburg, Illinois, updated daily.
# Economic Analysis of Layoffs in Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg, a major employment hub in the Chicago metropolitan area, has experienced 19 WARN notices affecting 1,569 workers across a roughly eight-year period represented in the available data. While this may appear modest compared to larger metropolitan areas, the concentration of these layoffs among a relatively small number of employers and within specific industries reveals structural vulnerabilities in the local economy. The average layoff event in Schaumburg has displaced approximately 82 workers, a figure that masks significant variation—some notices affect fewer than 30 workers while others impact more than 400.
The 1,569 workers displaced through WARN-notified layoffs represent a meaningful share of Schaumburg's workforce, particularly given that the city's economy depends heavily on service, retail, and light manufacturing sectors. These layoffs do not occur uniformly across the employment landscape but cluster among specific corporate operations and industries, suggesting that Schaumburg's economic resilience depends significantly on the stability of a narrow band of major employers.
Two employers account for roughly 45 percent of all layoff-related job losses documented in the data: Labor Network and Elite Staffing, Inc., both operating at Nestle USA's Nation Pizza facility, collectively displaced 550 workers across two notices. This concentration at a single facility—a food manufacturing and distribution operation—illustrates how dependent Schaumburg's employment base has become on a few large industrial operations. Nestle's presence through its food production subsidiary underscores the city's historical role as a manufacturing and logistics center, but the layoffs suggest that this traditional strength may be eroding.
Beyond the Nestle facilities, Amazon and T-Mobile represent the second tier of significant layoff contributors, each displacing 134 and 109 workers respectively. These technology and logistics companies reflect Schaumburg's evolution toward distribution and corporate service work rather than traditional manufacturing. However, their layoff activity suggests that even these sectors, often characterized as growth drivers, are not insulated from workforce reductions.
Mid-tier employers such as Friendship Village of Schaumburg (110 workers), Innovation Group North America, Inc. (105 workers), and Gerber National Claim Services, Inc. (75 workers) each contributed substantially to the overall displacement picture. The diversity of these employers—spanning senior care, professional services, and insurance claims processing—indicates that layoffs in Schaumburg are not confined to a single industry or business model but reflect broad economic pressures affecting multiple sectors simultaneously.
The hospitality and food service sector demonstrates particular vulnerability, with Bahama Breeze, Big Bowl Asian LLC, Wildfire Restaurant, and related establishments generating five separate notices displacing 232 workers. These businesses, ranging from casual dining chains to experiential restaurants, illustrate how Schaumburg's role as a shopping and entertainment destination generates employment that remains sensitive to consumer spending patterns and competitive pressures. The presence of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre US, LLC, which filed two notices affecting 68 workers, further indicates that even specialized entertainment venues struggle to maintain stable employment levels.
The industry breakdown reveals that accommodation and food services account for the largest share of layoff notices (5 notices, 232 workers), followed by healthcare (2 notices, 180 workers) and arts and entertainment (2 notices, 68 workers). The dominance of food service and hospitality layoffs reflects both pandemic-related disruptions and longer-term structural changes in consumer behavior and restaurant operations. These sectors represent essential but precarious employment for many workers, often offering lower wages and fewer benefits than other industries.
Healthcare layoffs in Schaumburg, while smaller in aggregate notice count, affected 180 workers and illustrate pressures within senior care and related health services. Friendship Village of Schaumburg, operating a continuing care retirement community, and Autism Home Support Services, LLC represent a growing sector in the Chicago region. Layoffs in this sector may signal challenges in reimbursement models, staffing efficiency pressures, or shifting demand patterns that affect facility operations.
The presence of professional services, finance and insurance, manufacturing, and retail layoffs indicates that no sector has been entirely spared. Finance and insurance (represented by Innovation Group North America, Inc.) affected 105 workers in a single notice, suggesting significant operational restructuring or consolidation within service centers that dot Schaumburg's business landscape. Manufacturing, while representing just 28 workers in a single notice, nevertheless persists as a sector generating layoff activity, indicating that Schaumburg retains some industrial operations despite decades of sectoral decline elsewhere in Illinois.
The temporal distribution of WARN notices reveals a distinct pattern of volatility. A single notice in 2018 was followed by a relative lull, then seven notices in 2020—reflecting pandemic-related disruptions across hospitality, food service, and discretionary retail operations. The subsequent years show declining activity (1 notice in 2021, 2 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 1 in 2024) before a significant uptick in 2025 with four notices affecting an undisclosed number of workers. Two additional notices are recorded for 2026, suggesting that forward-looking employer intentions indicate continued workforce adjustment pressure.
The 2020 concentration of notices reflects the acute shock of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, which devastated restaurants, entertainment venues, and retail operations. LEGOLAND Discovery Centre US, LLC, Bahama Breeze, and related hospitality businesses filed notices during this period as consumer access to entertainment venues became impossible. However, the persistence of layoffs through 2025 and beyond indicates that the adjustment is not merely a temporary pandemic artifact but reflects deeper competitive and operational pressures.
The recent acceleration toward 2025 and 2026 suggests that Schaumburg's employment landscape faces renewed or intensifying challenges. These layoffs occur amid broader economic uncertainty, technological disruption, and changing consumer preferences that extend beyond pandemic-specific shocks. The fact that notices are clustering in recent years warrants close monitoring, as this pattern may indicate that employers have completed initial workforce adjustments and are now implementing secondary rounds of optimization.
The displacement of 1,569 workers through formal WARN layoffs represents significant labor market disruption. However, the true impact extends beyond these numbers. WARN notices capture formal advance notifications for layoffs affecting 50 or more workers at a single site; smaller layoffs, attrition, and indirect employment losses through supply chain disruptions are not reflected in these data. The actual employment disruption in Schaumburg likely exceeds the reported figures substantially.
For workers, these layoffs concentrate in sectors offering variable job quality and wage levels. Hospitality and food service employment typically provides lower wages and fewer benefits than manufacturing or professional services work. The layoff of 232 workers in accommodation and food services, while a meaningful number, represents displacement of workers into a competitive labor market where replacement employment may involve wage losses or reduced hours.
The concentration of large layoffs at specific facilities—the Nestle operations, Amazon, T-Mobile—means that entire departments and operational units disappear suddenly, disrupting established work teams and professional networks. For senior workers or those with specialized skills tied to specific employers, relocation or career transition becomes necessary. Schaumburg's retail and hospitality concentration means that many displaced workers face limited alternative opportunities within the city itself and must either commute to other employment centers or accept employment downgrades.
Real estate and tax base implications extend the impact beyond direct worker displacement. Facility closures or significant operational reductions affect property values, commercial leasing activity, and municipal tax revenues. Schaumburg's tax base, which has historically depended on commercial activity and major employer stability, faces headwinds if significant employers reduce operations or relocate facilities. The closing of entertainment and dining establishments reduces foot traffic to shopping areas and diminishes the vibrancy of commercial districts.
Schaumburg's experience reflects broader dynamics affecting Illinois' economy. The state has experienced decades of manufacturing decline, forcing cities historically dependent on industrial employment to diversify into services, logistics, and corporate headquarters operations. Schaumburg successfully made much of this transition, emerging as a shopping destination and hospitality center. However, the volatility evident in recent layoff data suggests that these replacement employment sectors are themselves unstable.
The prominence of technology and logistics companies in recent years—Amazon, T-Mobile—indicates that Schaumburg has partially succeeded in attracting growth-oriented sectors. However, these companies are themselves engaged in rapid automation and operational optimization, meaning that employment growth does not necessarily translate to permanent job creation. Amazon's layoff activity reflects the company's ongoing robotics integration and fulfillment center optimization, a pattern repeated across the logistics sector.
Compared to Chicago proper, Schaumburg's layoff activity reflects a different economic base. While Chicago experiences layoffs in professional services, finance, and advanced manufacturing, Schaumburg's layoff concentration in hospitality and food service reflects its role as a regional retail and dining destination. The city's economic vulnerability to discretionary consumer spending patterns is evident in the hospitality sector's sensitivity to economic cycles and competitive pressures.
The availability of alternative employment in the broader Chicago metropolitan area provides some mitigation for displaced workers, as they can pursue opportunities in neighboring communities or Chicago's downtown core. However, this geographic mobility comes at the cost of increased commuting, which reduces net wages and work-life quality. Workers displaced from Schaumburg establishments are not necessarily absorbed efficiently by the local economy but rather distributed across a wider metropolitan labor market, suggesting that local unemployment may spike during periods of significant layoff activity.
Schaumburg's future employment stability likely depends on its ability to attract and retain stable employers across diverse sectors rather than depending on concentration among a few major operations. The recent acceleration of layoff activity in 2025 and forward projections through 2026 suggest that this transition remains incomplete and that further workforce adjustment pressure is anticipated.
Get Schaumburg Layoff Alerts
Free daily alerts for WARN Act filings in Illinois.
