Largest Layoffs by Industry Sector

WARN Act mass-layoff totals grouped by industry using the federal NAICS classification (2-digit sector). Rolling up every notice this way shows where job loss concentrates structurally — manufacturing, retail, accommodation and food service, and information sectors typically dominate, each for different reasons: offshoring, store closures, seasonal swings, and tech restructuring. Worker totals and notice counts update as new 60-day WARN filings arrive from state labor agencies. A sector can rank high on total workers yet low on notice count when a handful of very large closures drive the number — compare both columns to read the pattern.

Total Workers Affected
1,397,373
Total WARN Notices
8,708
Industries Tracked
19
Rank Industry Sector (NAICS-2) Workers Affected Notices Filed
1 Other Services NAICS 81 443,633 4,056
2 Manufacturing NAICS 31-33 209,759 976
3 Transportation & Warehousing NAICS 48-49 150,719 395
4 Retail Trade NAICS 44-45 133,853 536
5 Information Technology NAICS 51 116,245 281
6 Accommodation & Food Services NAICS 72 88,466 665
7 Health Care & Social Assistance NAICS 62 61,290 656
8 Arts, Entertainment & Recreation NAICS 71 49,759 54
9 Finance & Insurance NAICS 52 48,824 228
10 Professional & Technical Services NAICS 54 20,967 289
11 Real Estate NAICS 53 15,073 47
12 Wholesale Trade NAICS 42 14,339 139
13 Educational Services NAICS 61 13,698 121
14 Administrative & Support Services NAICS 56 9,620 122
15 Mining & Oil and Gas Extraction NAICS 21 9,607 29
16 Construction NAICS 23 7,532 46
17 Management of Companies NAICS 55 1,530 10
18 Public Administration NAICS 92 1,524 47
19 Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing NAICS 11 935 11

Methodology

Each WARN Act notice in the PlainLayoffs database carries a normalized industry tag derived from the employer's primary NAICS-2 classification. Worker counts sum the "workers affected" field across every notice in the sector. The average workers per notice column reveals sector-level event size — manufacturing and transportation tend toward larger single events; healthcare and retail toward higher notice volume with smaller per-event headcounts.

Caveats

WARN coverage requires employers with 100+ employees and applies to layoffs of 50+ workers, omitting smaller events. State mini-WARN laws expand coverage in some jurisdictions but not all. Industry tags reflect the primary NAICS code of the filing entity, so a manufacturer running a retail outlet may register under manufacturing.

Source: WARN Act notices filed with state workforce agencies, aggregated by PlainLayoffs WARN Act notices filed with state workforce agencies, aggregated by PlainLayoffs Worker counts and notice totals refresh automatically with each ETL run.