Washington Layoffs — November 2008
Employers in Washington posted 11 WARN Act notices in November 2008, affecting an estimated 4,375 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to October and up 700% versus November 2007. The average filing covered 398 workers, with 5 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Finance & Insurance | 1 | 3,400 |
| Transportation | 5 | 738 |
| Information & Technology | 2 | 154 |
| Other | 2 | 52 |
| Manufacturing | 1 | 31 |
The Finance & Insurance sector saw the heaviest impact with 3,400 workers across 1 notice. On a related front, Transportation reported 738 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 7 | 4,240 |
| Lewis | 1 | 52 |
| Pierce | 1 | 34 |
| Kitsap | 1 | 31 |
| Thurston | 1 | 18 |
King felt the sharpest impact, accounting for 97% of all affected workers with 4,240 workers across 7 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 4 | 3,614 |
| Renton | 1 | 430 |
| Kent | 1 | 187 |
| Chehalis | 1 | 52 |
| Tacoma | 1 | 34 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 6 | 4,053 |
| Closure | 5 | 322 |
Closures accounted for 7% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
Largest Layoffs
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Mutual | Seattle | 3,400 | Layoff | |
| Kenworth Trucking | Renton | 430 | Layoff | |
| DHL Express | Kent | 187 | Closure | |
| Seattle Times | Seattle | 145 | Layoff | |
| DHL Express | Seattle | 68 | Layoff | |
| ABX Air | Chehalis | 52 | Closure | |
| CDG Management | Tacoma | 34 | Closure | |
| BAE Systems | Bremerton | 31 | Closure | |
| CDG Management | Olympia | 18 | Closure | |
| Sun Microsystems | Bellevue | 9 | Layoff | |
| American Airlines | Seattle | 1 | Layoff |
The largest notice was filed by Washington Mutual at its Seattle facility, reporting 3,400 affected workers. Kenworth Trucking followed with 430 workers.
Trend & Outlook
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Finance & Insurance sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.
This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Washington. 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 Washington WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.