December 13 Is the Newest Week on the WARN Calendar — 5,307 Workers Scheduled

The WARN calendar has a new final week. The week beginning December 13 now shows 5,307 workers with scheduled effective dates, the latest week in the six-week window that Layoff Atlas tracks. It arrives right after the quietest week on the calendar — the week of December 6, with just 857 workers — making the jump from one week to the next the sharpest on the board.

That contrast is the story of this week's calendar. November is stacked with scheduled layoffs, December opens with a near-empty week, and then the numbers climb back up again. Here is what the calendar looks like now, and what it signals for the weeks ahead.

The six-week calendar as it stands

• Week of November 8: 4,267 workers
• Week of November 15: 7,887 workers — the heaviest week on the calendar
• Week of November 22: 6,614 workers
• Week of November 29: 6,156 workers
• Week of December 6: 857 workers — the lightest week on the calendar
• Week of December 13: 5,307 workers — the newest week

Across all six weeks, 31,088 workers have scheduled effective dates. November's four weeks account for 24,924 of them — about 80 percent of the total. December's two weeks so far account for 6,164.

A quiet week, then a rebound

December 13 is the fourth-largest week on the calendar, behind November 15 (7,887), November 22 (6,614), and November 29 (6,156). But it is the week that changes the shape of December. At 5,307 workers, it is more than six times the size of the week before it — 857 workers effective the week of December 6.

The December 6 figure is worth pausing on. It is the smallest weekly total on the current calendar by a wide margin, less than a fifth of the next-smallest week (November 8, with 4,267). A week that light usually means one of two things: employers are avoiding effective dates in early December, or filings for that week simply have not arrived yet. WARN notices keep arriving daily, and a week that looks quiet today can fill in as new notices are published. The December 13 total may move too — in either direction — as more filings land.

November still dominates the calendar

The heaviest week, November 15, begins in seven days. At 7,887 workers, it holds about a quarter of the entire six-week total on its own. It is followed by two more heavy weeks — November 22 at 6,614 and November 29 at 6,156 — so the three weeks from November 15 through November 29 carry 20,657 workers between them, roughly two-thirds of everything scheduled in the window.

That concentration matters for workers and for the support systems around them. State rapid-response teams, unemployment offices, and outplacement services all plan around effective dates. When three consecutive weeks each carry more than 6,000 workers, the demand on those services stacks up in a short period rather than spreading out.

The national picture behind the calendar

The calendar sits on top of a 90-day window of 705 WARN notices covering 65,089 reported workers, with 31 filings where no worker count was available. California leads the states with 21,514 reported workers, followed by Washington with 17,411. Together the two states hold 38,925 workers — about 60 percent of the national total. Illinois (3,548), Texas (2,750), and Virginia (2,546) round out the top five.

The state picture helps explain the shape of the calendar. California and Washington filings dominate the national totals, so a few large filings in either state can move a single week's number by thousands. That is also why weekly totals can shift quickly: one new filing from a large employer can turn a quiet week into a heavy one.

How to read these numbers

These figures are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A WARN notice records what an employer has told a state agency it plans to do, and the effective date is when those cuts are scheduled to take effect. Notices can be amended, delayed, or withdrawn, and some planned cuts never happen. Worker totals exclude the 31 filings with unavailable counts, so the true number of affected workers in the window is higher than 65,089.

Coverage also varies by state. Some states publish WARN notices promptly and completely; others publish late or not at all. A state with a small number on this calendar may have small numbers, or it may have gaps in what is published. The registry covers 51 jurisdictions, and 48 have imported records.

What to watch next

Three things are worth watching as the calendar rolls forward. First, whether the week of November 15 holds at 7,887 workers or grows as new notices arrive — it is already the heaviest week, and late filings tend to add to it. Second, whether December 6 stays the quietest week or fills in as more notices are published. And third, whether a week beginning December 20 appears on the calendar next, extending the window further into the holidays.

For now, the pattern is clear: a heavy November, a quiet first week of December, and a rebound in the second. The newest week on the calendar does not change that pattern — it sharpens it.

Data source: Layoff Atlas