Week ahead: November 11 brings 6,175 scheduled layoffs, the third-heaviest week on the calendar

The week of November 11, 2026, is shaping up to be one of the busiest layoff weeks on the current calendar. Layoff Atlas's registry shows 6,175 workers with effective dates falling in that week, making it the third-heaviest week in the six-week outlook and a clear step up from the quieter week that precedes it.

These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. WARN notices record what employers have told state labor agencies they plan to do, and plans can change, shrink, or be postponed. What the calendar shows is the schedule as it stands today, not a final count of people who will lose their jobs.

The six-week calendar

Here is the current outlook, by effective week, as shown on Layoff Atlas:

  • Week of October 28: 8,110 workers
  • Week of November 4: 3,760 workers
  • Week of November 11: 6,175 workers
  • Week of November 18: 5,882 workers
  • Week of November 25: 9,645 workers
  • Week of December 2: 1,741 workers

Across those six weeks, 35,313 workers are scheduled for layoffs. The November 11 week accounts for about 17 percent of that total — roughly one in six of all workers on the six-week calendar.

The shape of the calendar matters as much as any single week. The current week, starting October 28, is heavy at 8,110 workers. Then comes a sharp dip: the week of November 4 drops to 3,760, less than half the current week's total. November 11 rebounds to 6,175, a jump of about 64 percent from the week before. The week of November 18 holds nearly steady at 5,882, before the calendar peaks in the week of November 25 at 9,645 workers — the heaviest week in the outlook — and then falls away to just 1,741 in the week of December 2.

In other words, November 11 is not an isolated spike. It is the first week of a sustained busy stretch that runs through late November.

Why November 11 stands out

Three things make the November 11 week notable.

First, its size relative to its neighbours. At 6,175 workers, it is well above the two lightest weeks in the outlook — November 4 at 3,760 and December 2 at 1,741 — and it is larger than the week that follows it. It is the kind of mid-range heavy week that is easy to overlook next to a peak week like November 25, but it still represents thousands of planned job cuts landing in a single week.

Second, its timing. Mid-November sits just before the Thanksgiving holiday week, which carries the heaviest load on the calendar. The story of late November is not a single bad week but a run of them: November 11 and November 18, followed by the peak week itself.

Third, its position in the broader picture. The registry's current 90-day notice window holds 672 notices covering 63,417 reported workers, with 31 counts unavailable. The six-week outlook of 35,313 workers is more than half of that total, underlining how much visible layoff activity is concentrated in the weeks immediately ahead.

The national picture behind the week

Washington leads the state ranking with 17,050 reported workers in the connected sources, followed by California at 13,427, Illinois at 4,626, Texas at 3,652, and Georgia at 2,492. Washington and California together account for nearly half of all reported workers in the window.

That concentration is also a reminder of what the registry does and does not capture. WARN coverage is not a census of layoffs: reporting rules vary by state, and smaller layoffs below federal or state thresholds may never generate a notice. Worker totals also exclude unavailable counts, so the true number of affected workers in any week is likely higher than the published figure.

How to read a week-ahead number

A week-ahead figure like 6,175 is built from effective dates, not notice dates: the effective date is when the layoff is scheduled to take effect, while the notice date is when the employer filed. A filing noticed in October can therefore show up in a November week.

That distinction matters for two reasons. First, a heavy upcoming week is not necessarily a sign of sudden new trouble — it may simply be the week when earlier notices come due. Second, the numbers for November 11 are not final: new filings can still arrive, and existing plans can be postponed or cancelled. The calendar is a snapshot as of October 28, and it will move.

For workers, the practical point is simpler: if your employer has filed a WARN notice, the effective date in that notice is the date that matters for planning, and your state's Rapid Response team can help with job search, training, and benefits questions well before that date arrives.

What to watch next

The next data refresh will tell us whether the November 11 week grows, holds, or shrinks — whether new filings push it closer to the November 25 peak, or whether some plans slip into December. Either way, the current picture is clear: after a quiet first week of November, the layoff calendar picks up sharply, and the week of November 11 is where that pickup begins.

Data source: Layoff Atlas