WARN Act Layoffs in Davis County, Utah

In-Depth Analysis: Layoffs in Davis County, Utah

# Davis County, Utah: WARN Notices and Workforce Disruption Analysis

Overview: Scale and Significance of Layoffs

Davis County experienced 13 WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filings affecting 2,293 workers over the period covered in this dataset. While this represents a relatively modest number of notices compared to larger metropolitan areas, the concentration of layoffs and the size of affected workforces reveal significant economic stress within specific industries and geographic clusters. The average affected workforce per notice is 176 workers—substantially above national averages—indicating that when Davis County employers downsize, they tend to do so at substantial scale. The temporal distribution of these notices also signals cyclical economic pressures, with noticeable concentrations during the 2008-2009 financial crisis period and again in 2015, suggesting Davis County's economy remains sensitive to broader economic cycles and sector-specific disruptions.

Key Employers and Workforce Reductions

The layoff landscape in Davis County is heavily shaped by a handful of major employers whose workforce reductions have outsized impacts on the broader economy. Utility Trailer stands as the single largest contributor, with one notice affecting 492 workers—representing more than one-fifth of all workers impacted by WARN notices in the county. This substantial reduction in a transportation and manufacturing-adjacent company signals potential contraction in supply chain industries that have historically anchored Davis County's industrial base.

Clearfield Job Corps follows as the second-largest single displacement event, with 370 workers affected. As a federally-operated job training program, the closure or dramatic reduction of this facility represents not just direct job loss but the elimination of workforce development infrastructure that serves disadvantaged populations regionally. This has cascading effects beyond the immediate 370 workers, as it reduces training capacity for the broader county labor market.

Teleperformance USA filed two separate WARN notices affecting a combined 340 workers. The company's presence across two notices suggests episodic rather than catastrophic closure, pointing to operational restructuring or gradual facility wind-down in customer service and business process outsourcing—a sector that has become increasingly vulnerable to automation and offshore relocation. Exeter Finance, a captive finance company, reduced its workforce by 238 workers in a single notice, reflecting potential consolidation or portfolio rationalization within the fintech and automotive lending sectors.

The remaining employers—CB&I (195 workers), Kellogg Plant (140 workers), Survey Sampling International (106 workers), Tyson Foods (106 workers), TW & (100 workers), and Shopko (79 workers)—collectively account for 826 workers across eight notices. While individually smaller, these represent broad-based weakness across food processing, retail, professional services, and light manufacturing, suggesting systemic challenges rather than isolated corporate decisions.

Industry Patterns and Sectoral Vulnerability

Manufacturing emerged as the dominant sector driving WARN notices in Davis County, with three separate filings. This concentration underscores the county's historical reliance on production-oriented industries while simultaneously revealing structural vulnerabilities within the sector. The presence of Utility Trailer, CB&I, and Kellogg Plant layoffs across manufacturing indicates pressure from multiple sources: supply chain consolidation, automation, and potential overcapacity in legacy industrial segments.

Information and Technology represents the second most-affected sector with two notices, though notably concentrated within Teleperformance USA's customer service and business process operations rather than high-value software or systems development. This distinction is important: Davis County's IT-sector employment appears skewed toward back-office operations vulnerable to offshore competition and automation rather than innovation-driven roles that command premium wages and long-term stability.

The remaining notices span utilities, finance and insurance, construction, professional services, retail, and transportation—each with single notices. This fragmentation suggests that while certain sectors face acute challenges, no single industry outside manufacturing presents systematic vulnerability. However, the retail notice for Shopko reflects broader structural decline in traditional retail, a pattern affecting communities nationwide.

Geographic Concentration and Local Impact

The geographic distribution of WARN notices reveals extraordinary concentration in Clearfield, which accounts for 10 of the county's 13 notices and affects approximately 1,610 workers—roughly 70 percent of the county's total WARN-affected population. This includes the Clearfield Job Corps (370 workers), Utility Trailer (492 workers), Survey Sampling International (106 workers), and Teleperformance USA across multiple notices, among others. Clearfield has effectively become the epicenter of Davis County's employment volatility, making it particularly vulnerable to cumulative economic shocks.

Layton, West Bountiful, and North Salt Lake each experienced single WARN notices, distributing remaining impacts more thinly across the county's suburban communities. The concentration in Clearfield likely reflects both the presence of industrial corridors and larger-scale manufacturing facilities, but it also creates policy challenges: when one city accounts for 70 percent of significant layoff events, targeted economic development and workforce support become geographically concentrated challenges.

Historical Trends and Economic Cycles

The temporal distribution of WARN notices in Davis County closely mirrors broader U.S. economic cycles. Three notices appeared in 2009 during the Great Recession's acute phase, capturing the collapse of manufacturing and construction demand. A subsequent single notice in 2010 and 2011 reflected the slow recovery period. A notable cluster of three notices in 2015, followed by single notices in 2016 and 2017, suggests mid-cycle vulnerability as employers adjusted to post-recession operational realities.

The two notices appearing in 2020 coincided with COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, likely reflecting initial shutdowns in hospitality, retail, or business services. The most recent 2025 notice signals ongoing employment volatility heading into 2026. Notably absent from this data are major WARN filings during the strong employment years of 2018-2019 or the immediate pandemic recovery period of 2021-2022, suggesting Davis County's labor market follows national trends with some lag.

Local Economic Impact and Community Implications

The cumulative impact of 2,293 WARN-affected workers in Davis County cannot be understood merely through headcount. Each notice represents households losing primary income sources, community tax bases declining, and local retail and service sectors experiencing demand destruction. With Clearfield accounting for 70 percent of these displacements, the city faces particular strain on social services, unemployment insurance systems, and workforce development resources.

The industry composition of these layoffs—heavily weighted toward manufacturing, customer service operations, and retail—suggests that affected workers likely cluster in wage ranges from $30,000 to $55,000 annually. Retraining and relocation costs for these workers typically exceed typical unemployment insurance benefits, placing pressure on state and federal workforce development programs. The presence of multiple layoffs in low-skilled customer service and retail sectors indicates limited opportunities for internal labor market transitions within Davis County.

Concurrently, Davis County sits within Utah's broader technology economy, where H-1B certifications (17,295 statewide) concentrate heavily in information technology roles among employers like INFOSYS, Goldman Sachs, and Overstock.com. Notably, none of the WARN-filing companies in Davis County appear prominently in H-1B petition data, suggesting a structural mismatch: the county's workforce reductions concentrate in lower-skill, lower-wage sectors while the state's foreign worker hiring concentrates in higher-skill technology roles. This pattern indicates limited pathways for Davis County's displaced workers into the state's growth sectors without substantial retraining and geographic mobility.

Conclusion: Vulnerability and Adaptation

Davis County's WARN notice pattern reveals an economy in transition, with traditional manufacturing and business process outsourcing under pressure while emerging sectors concentrate elsewhere geographically and in skill requirements. The extraordinary concentration in Clearfield creates both vulnerability and opportunity for targeted intervention. Policymakers should prioritize manufacturing sector modernization, advanced manufacturing training initiatives, and bridge programs connecting displaced workers to Utah's technology sector growth outside Davis County.