Illinois Layoffs — September 2025
Employers in Illinois logged 19 WARN Act notices in September 2025, involving roughly 1,707 workers — climbing above August and up 119% versus September 2024. The average filing covered 90 workers, with 3 closures among the notices.
Industry Breakdown
| Industry | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 5 | 662 |
| Healthcare | 5 | 583 |
| Transportation | 3 | 172 |
| Other | 1 | 126 |
| Retail | 2 | 70 |
| Accommodation & Food | 2 | 57 |
| Real Estate | 1 | 37 |
The Manufacturing sector dominated layoff filings with 662 workers across 5 notices. Meanwhile, Healthcare reported 583 workers.
Geographic Hotspots
| County | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Cook | 5 | 781 |
| Northeast 4 | 4 | 353 |
| Champaign | 1 | 126 |
| Macon | 1 | 97 |
| Central 1 | 1 | 86 |
Cook bore the heaviest burden, accounting for 46% of all affected workers with 781 workers across 5 notices.
| City | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 8 | 1,099 |
| Decatur | 2 | 183 |
| Rantoul | 1 | 126 |
| West Chicago | 1 | 53 |
| Naperville | 1 | 37 |
Layoff Type Analysis
| Type | Notices | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Closure | 3 | 320 |
| Layoff | 3 | 139 |
Closures accounted for 19% of affected workers, while the majority of filings were layoffs rather than permanent shutdowns.
Largest Layoffs
The biggest impact was at Weiss Memorial Hospital at its Chicago facility, reporting 289 affected workers. Industrial Container Services, LLC DBA Mauser Packaging Solutions followed with 168 workers.
Trend & Outlook
This marks the third consecutive month of rising layoff activity.
This data points to mounting pressure on the Illinois labor market, with activity running above both recent and year-ago benchmarks. The Manufacturing sector warrants close attention heading into the next period.
This analysis is based on official WARN Act filings reported by Illinois. 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 Illinois WARN notices, browse layoffs by state, or download the full dataset.