| --- |
| license: cc-by-4.0 |
| language: |
| - en |
| pretty_name: US WARN Layoffs Dataset (Workopia) |
| tags: |
| - labor-economics |
| - layoffs |
| - WARN |
| - employment |
| - united-states |
| size_categories: |
| - 10K<n<100K |
| task_categories: |
| - tabular-classification |
| - time-series-forecasting |
| configs: |
| - config_name: default |
| data_files: data/layoffs_us_warn.parquet |
| --- |
| |
| # US WARN Layoffs Dataset |
|
|
| A cleaned, event-level dataset of **United States layoff and plant-closure notices** filed under the |
| [WARN Act](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/layoffs/warn) (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification), |
| plus a small set of layoff disclosures from SEC 8-K filings. Compiled and maintained by |
| [Workopia](https://workopia.io). |
|
|
| WARN notices are **public records** that employers are legally required to file with state workforce |
| agencies ahead of mass layoffs or plant closings. This dataset normalizes those filings across states |
| into a single, analysis-ready table. |
|
|
| ## At a glance |
|
|
| | | | |
| |---|---| |
| | Events | **18,468** | |
| | Total employees affected | **2,306,915** | |
| | Notice-date range | **2004-01-12 → 2026-06-10** | |
| | Geographic coverage | United States, **35 states** | |
| | Primary source | State WARN portals (CA, TX, NJ, IL, WA, MD, …) | |
| | Secondary source | SEC 8-K Item 2.05 disclosures (140 events) | |
| | Granularity | One row per filed notice | |
| | PII | None — company / facility level only | |
|
|
| > **Density note.** Coverage is sparse before ~2015 and dense from **2020 onward** (COVID-era spike, |
| > then a 2025–2026 rise). Treat pre-2015 years as a thin historical tail, not a complete record. |
| > The dataset reflects WARN's universe (large layoffs above state thresholds, plant closings) — it is |
| > **not** a census of all U.S. job losses. |
|
|
| ## Schema |
|
|
| | Column | Type | Description | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `event_id` | string | Stable unique id for the notice | |
| | `company` | string | Company name as filed (may include facility detail) | |
| | `company_normalized` | string | Cleaned company name | |
| | `employees` | int | Workers affected (present for 94% of rows) | |
| | `kind` | string | Layoff / Closure / Unknown | |
| | `permanence` | string | Permanent / Temporary / Unknown | |
| | `notice_date` | date | Date the notice was filed | |
| | `effective_date` | date | Date layoffs take effect | |
| | `country` | string | Always `United States` | |
| | `state` | string | US state (2-letter) | |
| | `county` | string | County | |
| | `city` | string | City | |
| | `address` | string | Facility address (public WARN record) | |
| | `naics2` | string | 2-digit NAICS sector (present for ~8% only) | |
| | `sic` | string | SIC code where available | |
| | `industry` | string | Industry label (present for ~51%) | |
| | `ticker` | string | Stock ticker where mappable (~0.75% only) | |
| | `cik` | string | SEC CIK where available | |
| | `source_url` | string | Source filing / portal URL | |
| | `source_type` | string | e.g. `WARN_CA`, `WARN_TX`, `SEC_8K` | |
| | `sec_item_codes` | string | SEC 8-K item code(s) for 8-K-sourced rows | |
| | `notice_year` | int | Year of `notice_date` (convenience) | |
|
|
| ## Known limitations |
|
|
| - **U.S.-only.** Non-U.S. layoffs are not included in this release. |
| - **Industry & ticker are sparse** (`naics2` ~8%, `industry` ~51%, `ticker` ~0.75%). Sector- and |
| equity-level analysis requires additional enrichment. |
| - **WARN is not exhaustive** — thresholds, exemptions, and state-by-state filing differences mean |
| smaller layoffs and some states are underrepresented. |
|
|
| ## Suggested uses |
|
|
| - Tracking U.S. layoff trends over time (national and by state) |
| - Labor-market nowcasting and event studies |
| - Training/evaluation data for entity normalization and employment NLP |
|
|
| ## Citation |
|
|
| ``` |
| Workopia (2026). US WARN Layoffs Dataset. https://workopia.io |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## License |
|
|
| Released under **CC BY 4.0**. Underlying WARN notices are public records; this distribution is the |
| cleaned/normalized derivative compiled by Workopia. |
|
|
