Pennsylvania Layoffs — April 2018
Employers in Pennsylvania posted 13 WARN Act notices in April 2018, affecting an estimated 1,501 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to March and up 176% versus April 2017. The average filing covered 115 workers, with 9 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Retail | 2 | 754 |
| Manufacturing | 5 | 387 |
| Transportation | 2 | 212 |
| Education | 1 | 95 |
| Finance & Insurance | 1 | 50 |
| Information & Technology | 1 | 2 |
| Utilities | 1 | 1 |
The Retail sector saw the heaviest impact with 754 workers across 2 notices. On a related front, Manufacturing reported 387 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | 1 | 656 |
| Philadelphia | 2 | 212 |
| Luzerne | 1 | 167 |
| Montgomery | 1 | 119 |
| Bucks | 1 | 98 |
Lancaster felt the sharpest impact, accounting for 44% of all affected workers with 656 workers across 1 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | 1 | 656 |
| Philadelphia | 2 | 212 |
| Hazleton | 1 | 167 |
| Conshohocken | 1 | 119 |
| Bristol | 1 | 98 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Closure | 9 | 1,331 |
| Layoff | 3 | 164 |
The high proportion of closures (89% of affected workers) suggests structural shifts rather than temporary cutbacks in Pennsylvania's labor market.
Largest Layoffs
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bon Ton | Lancaster | 656 | Closure | |
| Quad Graphics | Hazleton | 167 | Closure | |
| Worldwide Flight Services PHL International Airport | Philadelphia | 161 | Layoff | |
| Johnson Matthey | Conshohocken | 119 | Closure | |
| Nine West Holdings, Inc. Shared Services | Bristol | 98 | Closure | |
| Sodexo at Juniata College | Huntingdon | 95 | Closure | |
| Harbison Walker International, Sproul Plant | Claysburg | 88 | Closure | |
| Dicom Transportation Group | Philadelphia | 51 | Closure | |
| Bb&T | Allentown | 50 | Closure | |
| Johnson & Johnson | Wayne | 7 | Closure | |
| Arrow International Incorporated/Teleflex | Reading | 6 | ||
| Sitel | Nashville | 2 | Layoff | |
| GenOn Energy Services | New Florence | 1 | Layoff |
The largest notice was filed by Bon Ton at its Lancaster facility, reporting 656 affected workers. Quad Graphics followed with 167 workers.
Trend & Outlook
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Pennsylvania labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Retail sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.
This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Pennsylvania. 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 Pennsylvania WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.