WARN Act mass layoff and plant closure notices in Evansville, Indiana, updated daily.
Workers affected by industry sector
Workers affected by notice type
# Economic Analysis of Evansville Layoffs
Evansville, Indiana has experienced substantial workforce disruption over the past fifteen years, with 33 WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices affecting 3,403 workers since 2010. This scale of job loss represents a significant challenge for a metropolitan area with a 2020 census population of approximately 117,000 residents. To contextualize this figure, 3,403 displaced workers constitute roughly 2.9% of the city's total population, but given that the labor force likely represents around 50,000 individuals, these layoffs account for approximately 6.8% of Evansville's working population over this fifteen-year period.
The geographic concentration of these notices in a single city amplifies their local impact. Unlike layoffs dispersed across a large metropolitan region, Evansville's job losses strike at a community with limited economic diversification and fewer alternative employment corridors within reasonable commuting distance. The city's economic health depends heavily on a relatively small number of major employers, making each significant layoff a matter of considerable community concern. The data reveals that just five employers account for 1,767 workers—or 51.9% of all WARN-related job losses in Evansville over this period.
The dominance of a handful of major employers underscores Evansville's economic vulnerability. Monarch Beverage Co., EF Transit, Inc., and Monarch Medical Center, LLC collectively filed one notice affecting 633 workers, representing the single largest layoff event in the dataset. This notice likely reflects consolidation or operational restructuring across multiple divisions of what appears to be a vertically integrated regional enterprise. Following closely behind, Aztar Indiana Gaming Co., LLC dba Tropicana Evansville eliminated 529 positions in a single notice, representing the gaming and hospitality sector's most significant contribution to local job losses.
Vitro Automotive / Pittsburgh Glass Works affected 306 workers, while ASM Global displaced 248 workers—both reflecting challenges in manufacturing-adjacent and facilities management sectors. Whirlpool Corporation, a historic manufacturing anchor in the region, filed a notice affecting 217 workers, demonstrating how even established regional manufacturers have not been insulated from workforce reduction pressures.
Beyond these major events, mid-sized employers have contributed meaningfully to the layoff landscape. Clondalkin Pharma & Healthcare filed two separate notices affecting 181 workers combined, suggesting ongoing operational challenges or deliberate workforce restructuring across multiple cycles. Vantiv, LLC filed four notices (including one revision) affecting a combined 104 workers, indicating a company navigating competitive pressures through incremental workforce adjustments rather than a single catastrophic reduction.
Several service-sector employers also appear in the data. Springleaf Financial affected 170 workers, Covance (contract research organization) affected 101 workers, EverQuote, Inc. affected 98 workers, and DoubleTree Evansville affected 83 workers. The presence of financial services, hospitality, and professional services firms in the layoff data suggests that job losses have not been confined to traditional manufacturing, but rather distributed across multiple economic sectors.
The available industry breakdown data shows only three notices explicitly classified as manufacturing, affecting just 59 workers. This apparent underrepresentation likely reflects how WARN data classifies companies—many manufacturing firms may be labeled under their parent company's primary classification or their specific operational function rather than "manufacturing" as a categorical designation. Whirlpool, Vitro Automotive, and Pittsburgh Glass Works operate squarely within manufacturing but may not appear in the manufacturing category depending on how the original WARN notices were coded.
What emerges more clearly is layoffs concentrated in capital-intensive, consolidated industries vulnerable to automation, consolidation, and supply chain disruption. The beverage industry (represented by Monarch and Royal Crown Bottling) has undergone substantial consolidation nationally, with production increasingly centralized in larger facilities and fewer distribution points. The automotive parts sector, represented by Vitro Automotive, has faced relentless pressure from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) demanding price reductions that squeeze margins and incentivize automation and facility consolidation.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies (Clondalkin Pharma & Healthcare, Monarch Medical Center) appear multiple times, reflecting industry-wide consolidation and automation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and increasing pressure on hospital operations from payer consolidation. The financial services sector, represented by Springleaf Financial, Vantiv, and EverQuote, has undergone technological disruption and consolidation that has eliminated middle-office positions even as overall transaction volumes have grown.
The gaming sector's presence—with Tropicana Evansville's 529-worker notice—reflects broader headwinds in regional gaming, including increased competition from expanded gaming jurisdictions and the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on hospitality operations and consumer behavior.
Examining the temporal distribution of notices reveals an uneven but concerning pattern. The 2010-2012 period saw 11 notices affecting an unknown but substantial number of workers during the post-financial crisis recovery period. Activity declined through the mid-2010s, with only 5 notices between 2014-2017, suggesting relative stability in employment during the economic expansion of the mid-2010s.
However, the dataset shows concerning volatility in recent years. Six notices appeared in 2020, which likely corresponds with the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on hospitality, gaming, and service sector employment. The concentration of notices in 2020 suggests that major Evansville employers in tourism-dependent sectors faced immediate and severe demand shocks. The data shows only four notices across 2021-2023 (though 2023 data may be incomplete), but the presence of two notices in 2024 and one in 2025 indicates that layoff activity has not returned to mid-2010s baseline levels.
The trend suggests that Evansville has experienced at least two distinct disruption waves: the post-2008 recession adjustment and the Covid-19 pandemic shock. The persistence of layoff notices even as the broader economy has recovered suggests underlying structural challenges rather than purely cyclical employment pressure. This distinction matters significantly for policymakers attempting to design workforce interventions.
The displacement of 3,403 workers over fifteen years carries consequences that extend far beyond the immediate individuals and families affected. The concentration of job losses among a small number of dominant employers means that entire communities within Evansville—defined by workplace affiliation, family networks, and residential proximity to major employers—experience synchronized economic disruption.
Manufacturing and gaming job losses disproportionately affect workers with mid-level education and limited credential portability. A worker displaced from Whirlpool or Vitro Automotive possesses industry-specific skills that may have limited applicability in Evansville's remaining employment base. The loss of a Tropicana Evansville position in hospitality or gaming creates particular hardship given the limited alternative opportunities in comparable wage categories.
The timing of notices relative to seasonal cycles also matters for local impact. Notices filed in late fall or winter compound hardship by removing holiday season employment opportunities and creating income loss during expensive months. The data does not specify notice filing months, but examining notice dates would reveal whether Evansville has experienced additional timing-related vulnerability.
The indirect economic consequences extend through local supply chains and consumer spending. Every displaced worker represents reduced consumer spending at Evansville retailers, reduced property tax revenue as households relocate or face income reduction, and potential strain on municipal services as poverty rates increase. Multiplier effects mean that each job lost in manufacturing or major hospitality operations triggers additional job losses among suppliers and service providers.
Positioning Evansville within broader Indiana economic patterns requires recognizing the state's continued manufacturing dependence alongside its transformation toward logistics, life sciences, and advanced services. Indiana's manufacturing employment has declined by approximately 20% over the past two decades despite being the nation's second-largest manufacturing employer by absolute numbers. Evansville's manufacturing exposure aligns with state patterns, but the city's smaller economic base means individual employer decisions have disproportionate community impact.
The presence of gaming and hospitality layoffs distinguishes Evansville somewhat from inland Indiana manufacturing centers. Tropicana Evansville's workforce reductions reflect a concentrated regional economic dependency that differs from the more diversified economic bases of Indianapolis or the northern Indiana industrial corridor anchored by South Bend and Fort Wayne.
Evansville's location on the Kentucky border creates specific labor market dynamics. The availability of Kentucky gaming and hospitality employment creates some alternative opportunity for displaced workers, but also means that Kentucky's competitive advantages in gaming regulation and tax policy may have accelerated job transfers across state lines rather than representing genuine new regional opportunity.
The data suggests that Evansville has not successfully leveraged its river location, proximity to Louisville, or existing workforce capabilities to diversify into higher-growth sectors. The absence of significant notices from technology, life sciences research, or advanced logistics operations indicates that the city has not captured the job creation that has benefited other Midwest metropolitan areas during the 2010s and 2020s. This represents not merely a continuation of manufacturing decline but a failure to capitalize on the region's potential for economic transformation.
Get Evansville Layoff Alerts
Free daily alerts for WARN Act filings in Indiana.
