December 17 Is the Newest Week on the WARN Calendar — 5,347 Workers Scheduled

The WARN layoff calendar has rolled forward again. The week of December 17 is now the newest week on it, with 5,347 workers scheduled for layoffs to take effect that week, according to the latest Layoff Atlas data.

It is a notable number for two reasons. First, it is far heavier than the two weeks before it. Second, it is the last week currently visible on the calendar — and the newest week is the one most likely to change as more notices arrive.

The six-week picture

Here is the full calendar as it stands today, November 12:

Week of November 12: 7,578 workers
Week of November 19: 8,412 workers
Week of November 26: 6,032 workers
Week of December 3: 1,919 workers
Week of December 10: 1,959 workers
Week of December 17: 5,347 workers

That is 31,247 workers scheduled across the six weeks. November 19 remains the heaviest week on the calendar at 8,412 workers. December 17, at 5,347, ranks fourth of the six — behind November 19 (8,412), November 12 (7,578), and November 26 (6,032), and well ahead of December 10 (1,959) and December 3 (1,919).

December's quiet first half, then a jump

The shape of December is what stands out. The first two weeks of the month are the lightest on the calendar by a wide margin: 1,919 workers in the week of December 3 and 1,959 in the week of December 10. Combined, those two weeks total 3,878 workers — fewer than the December 17 week alone.

Then the calendar jumps. December 17's 5,347 workers is nearly three times the December 10 figure. That is a sharp break in the pattern, and it is worth watching rather than assuming. A new week on the calendar starts with only the notices filed so far. As more employers file WARN notices with effective dates in that week, the number grows. The December 3 and December 10 figures have had longer to accumulate filings; December 17 has had the least time. If the usual pattern holds, the December 17 total will rise further before the week arrives.

November still carries the calendar

Even with the December 17 jump, November dominates the six-week window. The three November weeks total 22,022 workers, against 9,225 across the three December weeks. November accounts for about 70 percent of the scheduled layoffs in the window.

That concentration is consistent with what the registry has shown for weeks: a heavy mid-November, with November 19 the peak, followed by a much lighter early December. The December 17 figure complicates the "quiet December" reading, but it does not overturn it — two of December's three weeks remain the lightest on the calendar.

The calendar already extends past December

The six-week window is not the whole story. Notices with effective dates in January 2027 are already on the books. The Children's Place Distribution filing in Fort Payne, Alabama, covers 593 workers effective January 5, 2027, noticed on November 6. The Container Store's Maryland filing covers 183 workers effective January 15, 2027, also noticed November 6. Smaller January filings — AT&T's 50-worker New Jersey notice and UBS's 39-worker Weehawken notice, both effective in late January and early February — are already visible too.

Those January dates matter for how to read December 17. The calendar is a rolling picture, not a fixed schedule. Each new filing can add workers to a week that already looked settled, and each week that passes drops off the front of the window.

Where the numbers sit nationally

The registry currently holds 654 notices covering 60,606 reported workers in its 90-day window, with 30 notices carrying no worker count. Two states continue to dominate: California leads with 20,789 reported workers, followed by Washington with 17,387. Together they account for about 63 percent of the reported total. Maryland (2,667), Virginia (2,556), and Texas (2,419) round out the top five.

That concentration is a reminder that the national total is not evenly spread. A handful of large filings in California or Washington can move the national figure by thousands, while most states contribute far smaller numbers.

How to read the December 17 number

Three things to keep in mind:

It is a floor, not a final count. The newest week has had the least time to accumulate notices. Expect it to rise.
These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. WARN notices record what employers say they plan to do. Plans can be postponed, reduced, or cancelled, and some layoffs never trigger a WARN filing at all.
Worker totals exclude unavailable counts. Thirty notices in the current window carry no worker count, so the true scheduled total is higher than 31,247 by an unknown amount.

The December 17 week is the one to watch over the next few days. If it keeps climbing while December 3 and December 10 stay flat, the late-December picture will look very different from the quiet start the month seemed to promise.

Data source: Layoff Atlas