The layoff calendar does not wind down gently into December. It stays heavy for five more weeks, then eases — slightly — in the final week of November. The week beginning November 30, 2026 currently carries 5,592 reported workers with effective dates in that week, according to Layoff Atlas data fetched on October 26, 2026. That makes it the quiet close to a six-week stretch totalling 34,989 reported workers. Quiet is relative: the week is not light, just lighter than the weeks around it, and a smaller weekly total is not a final count.

The six weeks in full

Here is the current picture for the six upcoming effective weeks:

  • Week of October 26, 2026: 5,503 reported workers
  • Week of November 2, 2026: 5,061 reported workers
  • Week of November 9, 2026: 6,568 reported workers
  • Week of November 16, 2026: 6,145 reported workers
  • Week of November 23, 2026: 6,120 reported workers
  • Week of November 30, 2026: 5,592 reported workers

The six-week average is about 5,832 workers per week. The November 30 week sits about 240 workers below that average, roughly 4 percent under it. It is the third-lightest week in the window, behind only the weeks of November 2 (5,061) and October 26 (5,503). The heaviest week remains November 9, at 6,568 workers — about 17 percent above the November 30 total.

The layoffs are spread out, week after week, rather than concentrated in one sharp event. That spread is itself a signal: this is a sustained period of reported workforce reductions, not a one-week spike.

What an "effective week" means

A WARN notice has two dates that matter, and confusing them is the most common way to misread this data. The notice date is when the filing was made public. The effective date is when the layoffs are scheduled to take effect. The weekly totals above are grouped by effective date, so they describe when workers are scheduled to be affected — not when the news broke.

That distinction matters for the November 30 week. Filings with a November 30 effective date may have been noticed weeks or months earlier. Conversely, new filings noticed in late November could land in earlier effective weeks, or push into December. The calendar is a snapshot of what is currently scheduled, and it moves as new notices are filed and existing ones are revised.

Why the November 30 week could still grow

The 5,592 figure is a floor, not a forecast. First, new filings arrive every week, and some will carry effective dates in the week of November 30. Second, effective dates sometimes shift — a planned date can move, a phased layoff can be rescheduled, or a filing can be withdrawn, moving workers between weeks or off the calendar entirely. Third, coverage is incomplete: WARN data is not a census of all layoffs, reporting rules vary by state, and smaller layoffs often fall below the thresholds that trigger a filing at all.

Layoff Atlas notes that its registry covers 51 jurisdictions, that 48 have imported records, and that worker totals exclude counts that are unavailable. In the current 90-day notice window, the site shows 679 notices and 65,527 reported workers, with 33 counts unavailable. So the November 30 week should be read as "at least 5,592 reported workers are currently scheduled to be affected that week," not as a prediction that exactly 5,592 people will lose their jobs.

The national backdrop

The six-week window sits inside a picture that remains concentrated in a handful of states. In the current 90-day window, the top states by reported workers are Washington (17,073), California (14,001), Illinois (4,626), Texas (3,652), and Ohio (3,180). Washington and California alone account for more than 31,000 of the 65,527 reported workers in that window.

That concentration partly reflects which states publish WARN data most completely. A state with a smaller published total may have thinner reporting, not fewer layoffs, so national weekly totals are a better gauge of the overall pace than any single state's figure.

What to watch

Three things will tell us whether the November 30 week stays the quiet close or catches up with the heavier weeks around it. One is the November 9 week: at 6,568 workers, it is the peak of the current window. Another is the December calendar: filings with December effective dates will show whether this stretch is ending or just pausing. The third is revisions to the November 30 week itself — watch whether its total climbs toward the six-week average of about 5,832, or holds below it.

The caveat that always applies

All of these figures describe reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A WARN filing is an advance notification of a qualifying mass layoff or plant closure, filed with a state labor agency. Some planned layoffs are reduced, postponed, or cancelled. Some workers find other roles with the same employer. The numbers are the best public early signal available, but they are not a count of people who have actually lost their jobs.

For workers, the practical takeaway is the same regardless of which week looks heaviest. If your employer has filed a notice, confirm the details, check what help your state's Rapid Response team offers, and keep copies of everything.

Data source: Layoff Atlas