North Carolina Layoffs — March 2020

Employers in North Carolina reported 104 WARN Act notices in March 2020, displacing an estimated 10,788 workers — signaling an acceleration from February and up 965% versus March 2019. The average filing covered 104 workers, with 19 closures among the notices.

Industry Breakdown

The Accommodation & Food sector topped the list of affected industries with 4,652 workers across 26 notices. Notably, Manufacturing reported 2,126 workers.

Geographic Hotspots

Mecklenburg bore the heaviest burden, accounting for 28% of all affected workers with 3,043 workers across 25 notices.

Layoff Type Analysis

Closures accounted for 26% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.

Largest Layoffs

The most significant filing came from HMSHost - Charlotte Douglas International Airport - COVID19 at its Charlotte facility, reporting 815 affected workers. Quaintance-Weaver - COVID19 followed with 700 workers.

Trend & Outlook

After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.

The numbers illustrate mounting pressure on the North Carolina labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Accommodation & Food sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.

This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by North Carolina. 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 North Carolina WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.