California Layoffs — January 2020
Employers in California logged 78 WARN Act notices in January 2020, involving roughly 7,190 workers — climbing above December and up 9% versus January 2019. The average filing covered 92 workers, with 37 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Information & Technology | 15 | 1,544 |
| Manufacturing | 20 | 1,501 |
| Accommodation & Food | 7 | 1,104 |
| Transportation | 8 | 967 |
| Healthcare | 15 | 660 |
| Professional Services | 6 | 396 |
| Real Estate | 1 | 330 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 2 | 315 |
The Information & Technology sector dominated layoff filings with 1,544 workers across 15 notices. Meanwhile, Manufacturing reported 1,501 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 16 | 1,755 |
| San Francisco | 5 | 1,205 |
| Los Angeles | 16 | 931 |
| Orange | 9 | 730 |
| Kern | 5 | 626 |
Santa Clara saw the most concentrated activity, accounting for 24% of all affected workers with 1,755 workers across 16 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 5 | 1,205 |
| San Jose | 7 | 738 |
| Sacramento | 1 | 453 |
| Cypress | 2 | 338 |
| Taft | 1 | 332 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 41 | 4,706 |
| Closure | 37 | 2,484 |
Closures accounted for 35% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
Largest Layoffs
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gate Gourmet's San Francisco International Airport Kitchen | San Francisco | 678 | Layoff | |
| FedEx Ground | Sacramento | 453 | Layoff | |
| Management & Training | Taft | 332 | Closure | |
| WeWork Companies | San Francisco | 330 | Layoff | |
| Acme Player Services | Cypress | 313 | Layoff | |
| SunSelect Produce (California) | Tehachapi | 236 | Closure | |
| Vmware | Palo Alto | 211 | Layoff | |
| Safran Cabin Galleys US | Huntington Beach | 180 | Layoff | |
| Zume | Mountain View | 172 | Layoff | |
| Shutterfly | Redwood City | 153 | Layoff | |
| Adventist Health Hanford | Hanford | 152 | Closure | |
| Sodexo, Inc and Affiliates | Los Angeles | 150 | Closure | |
| Weber Metals | Paramount | 150 | Layoff | |
| Kateeva | Newark | 144 | Layoff | |
| Le Boulanger | Sunnyvale | 143 | Closure |
The biggest impact was at Gate Gourmet's San Francisco International Airport Kitchen at its San Francisco facility, reporting 678 affected workers. FedEx Ground followed with 453 workers.
Trend & Outlook
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
This data points to mounting pressure on the California 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 California. 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 California WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.