Washington Layoffs — January 2009
Employers in Washington posted 10 WARN Act notices in January 2009, affecting an estimated 2,040 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to December and up 560% versus January 2008. The average filing covered 204 workers, with 5 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Information & Technology | 4 | 1,260 |
| Manufacturing | 4 | 380 |
| Utilities | 1 | 235 |
| Mining & Energy | 1 | 165 |
The Information & Technology sector saw the heaviest impact with 1,260 workers across 4 notices. On a related front, Manufacturing reported 380 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| King | 6 | 1,591 |
| Grays Harbor | 2 | 221 |
| Pend Oreille | 1 | 165 |
| Clark | 1 | 63 |
King felt the sharpest impact, accounting for 78% of all affected workers with 1,591 workers across 6 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Redmond | 1 | 872 |
| Seattle | 3 | 619 |
| Aberdeen | 2 | 221 |
| Metaline Falls | 1 | 165 |
| Auburn | 1 | 96 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 5 | 1,307 |
| Closure | 5 | 733 |
Closures accounted for 36% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
Largest Layoffs
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Redmond | 872 | Layoff | |
| Qwest | Seattle | 235 | Closure | |
| Allied Waste | Seattle | 203 | Layoff | |
| Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Seattle | 181 | Closure | |
| Teck | Metaline Falls | 165 | Layoff | |
| Weyerhaeuser Sawmill | Aberdeen | 128 | Closure | |
| Philips Electronics | Auburn | 96 | Closure | |
| Pacific Veneer Weyerhaeuser | Aberdeen | 93 | Closure | |
| SolarWorld Industries | Vancouver | 63 | Layoff | |
| Sun Microsystems | Bellevue | 4 | Layoff |
The largest notice was filed by Microsoft at its Redmond facility, reporting 872 affected workers. Qwest followed with 235 workers.
Trend & Outlook
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Washington labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Information & Technology 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.