Pennsylvania Layoffs — August 2020
Employers in Pennsylvania posted 18 WARN Act notices in August 2020, affecting an estimated 2,587 workers — reflecting a significant uptick compared to July and up 140% versus August 2019. The average filing covered 144 workers, with 2 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Finance & Insurance | 2 | 1,058 |
| Transportation | 7 | 718 |
| Accommodation & Food | 3 | 290 |
| Manufacturing | 2 | 256 |
| Education | 2 | 171 |
| Professional Services | 2 | 94 |
The Finance & Insurance sector saw the heaviest impact with 1,058 workers across 2 notices. On a related front, Transportation reported 718 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Chester | 1 | 944 |
| Philadelphia | 8 | 883 |
| Bucks | 3 | 359 |
| Mercer | 1 | 131 |
| Berks | 1 | 125 |
Chester was the epicenter of layoff activity, accounting for 36% of all affected workers with 944 workers across 1 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Malvern | 1 | 944 |
| Philadelphia | 8 | 883 |
| Langhorne | 3 | 359 |
| Mercer | 1 | 131 |
| Reading | 1 | 125 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff | 16 | 2,348 |
| Closure | 2 | 239 |
Closures accounted for 9% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
Largest Layoffs
| Company | City | Workers | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Vanguard Group | Malvern | 944 | Layoff | |
| LSGgroup | Philadelphia | 263 | Layoff | |
| Frontier Airlines | Philadelphia | 215 | Layoff | |
| Allpoints Trucking and Courier Services, Inc, DBA Thruway Direct | Langhorne | 204 | Layoff | |
| Aramark at LaSalle University | Philadelphia | 152 | Layoff | |
| Mercer Forge | Mercer | 131 | Layoff | |
| Sun Rich Fresh Foods (PA) | Reading | 125 | Closure | |
| Prime EFS | Langhorne | 114 | Closure | |
| Xtl | Philadelphia | 92 | Layoff | |
| TLT Transportation | Philadelphia | 80 | Layoff | |
| Courier Distribution Systems | Sewickley | 64 | Layoff | |
| Courier Distribution Systems | Philadelphia | 60 | Layoff | |
| Courier Distribution Systems | King of Prussia | 54 | Layoff | |
| Deliverol Global | Langhorne | 41 | Layoff | |
| Double Tree Suites | Plymouth Meeting | 24 | Layoff |
The largest notice was filed by The Vanguard Group at its Malvern facility, reporting 944 affected workers. LSGgroup followed with 263 workers.
Trend & Outlook
After a dip last month, layoff activity has ticked back up.
The trends suggest mounting pressure on the Pennsylvania 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 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.