The 2027 Layoff Calendar Is Already Filling Up: 2,882 Workers Scheduled

The new year is still seven weeks away, and the 2027 layoff calendar already has names on it. WARN filings with effective dates in 2027 now cover at least 2,882 workers across 35 individual records from 24 employers in six states. Three weeks ago, when we first counted, the total was 391 workers across five records. The calendar has grown more than sevenfold in 20 days — not because layoffs accelerated, but because the filings keep arriving and the registry keeps catching up.

These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. Every number below comes from WARN notices filed with state labor agencies and tracked by Layoff Atlas. A filing is a plan an employer has reported; it can be postponed, reduced, or cancelled. But the direction is worth noting: employers are already giving notice for cuts that take effect after the new year, and the list gets longer every week.

January carries most of the weight

January 2027 accounts for 1,819 of the 2,882 workers — nearly two-thirds — across 29 records. The single largest January filing is Children's Place Distribution's 593-worker closure of its Fort Payne, Alabama distribution center, effective January 5, 2027. The company gave notice on November 6, exactly 60 days ahead, the federal WARN minimum.

The rest of January is spread across smaller filings. The Container Store's 183-worker closure in Maryland, effective January 15, is the second-largest. National Distribution Centers' 167-worker closure in Perris, California, effective January 4, is third. A&G Management's 120-worker layoff in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, effective January 3, and Ellison Institute's 88-worker layoff in Los Angeles, effective January 3, round out the top five.

One day, 423 workers

January 4 stands out as a single date. Six filings take effect that day, covering 423 workers: National Distribution Centers (167, Perris), Haas Automation (74, Oxnard), Wedgewood Village Pharmacy (71, San Jose), ServiceNow's two California filings (37 in Santa Clara and 25 in San Diego), Eclipse Advantage (35, Perris), and Cayuga Centers (14, Baltimore). Four of the six are in California, and all six gave between 61 and 91 days' notice — comfortably above the 60-day federal floor.

Single-date clusters like this are a normal feature of the WARN calendar. Effective dates bunch up at the start of months and quarters, when lease terms, fiscal calendars, and seasonal contracts turn over. January 4 is the largest 2027 date so far, and more filings with that effective date may still arrive as states publish their November notices.

February and March: smaller, but not empty

February holds 801 workers across three filings, and one employer dominates it: The Children's Place, with 732 workers in New Jersey effective February 4, 2027. UBS (39 workers, Weehawken, February 2) and Lion Brothers (30 workers, Owings Mills, Maryland, February 5) make up the rest. Together with its Alabama filing, The Children's Place is the largest 2027 employer in the registry so far, at 1,325 workers across two states.

March is quieter: 262 workers across three filings — Foster's 169-worker closure in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, plus its 12-worker companion closure in Greenville, both effective March 5, and Kenco Logistic Services' 81-worker filing in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, effective March 1. Foster gave 135 days' notice, more than double the federal minimum — the longest lead time in the 2027 set.

Where the filings are coming from

Six states account for all 2,882 named workers. New Jersey leads on paper: its registry bucket for 2027 already shows 11 notices covering 1,518 workers, though only five of those filings — Children's Place, Comcast, AT&T, UBS, and Mars Information Services — are named in the public lists, totalling 995 workers. California follows with 651 workers across 11 named employer groups, Alabama with 593 (all Children's Place), Maryland with 381, North Carolina with 181 (all Foster), and Pennsylvania with 81 (all Kenco).

That geography will change. California's official feed is the most recently synced — its newest notice is dated November 9 — while other states lag: Texas's newest official notice is from June. As more states publish their November filings, the 2027 total will keep rising. The 2,882 figure is a floor, not a ceiling.

What to watch next

Three things will tell us whether 2027 starts heavy or light. First, whether January's count keeps climbing as late-November filings arrive — most of the January filings so far gave 60 to 90 days' notice, so filings made in the next two weeks will land in January and February. Second, whether any single employer adds a second large filing, as The Children's Place did across two states. Third, whether the December 2026 dates thin out or hold: the six weeks ahead still hold 30,577 scheduled workers, with the week of November 13 the heaviest at 7,371.

For workers, the practical point is the same as always: a WARN notice is a 60-day head start, and the registry shows employers are using the full window. If your employer appears on the 2027 calendar, the notice period is the time to use — for the job search, the benefits decisions, and the paperwork — before the effective date arrives.

As of November 12, Layoff Atlas tracks 667 WARN notices covering 61,284 reported workers in a 90-day window, with 29 filings where the worker count was unavailable. California leads with 22,043 reported workers, followed by Washington at 17,333, Virginia at 2,556, Maryland at 2,522, and Texas at 2,419.

Data source: Layoff Atlas