Week Ahead: November 24 Is the Heaviest Upcoming Layoff Week, With 9,300 Workers Scheduled
The heaviest layoff week on the current WARN calendar is now the week of November 24, with 9,300 reported workers scheduled for effective layoff dates in that week. That is more than any other upcoming week in the next six weeks, and it lands on Thanksgiving week: Thanksgiving Day 2026 falls on Thursday, November 26, inside the same week.
These figures come from Layoff Atlas's registry of WARN notices, which tracks advance notifications of qualifying mass layoffs and plant closures filed with state labor agencies. The numbers below were fetched fresh on November 3, 2026, and they will move as new notices are filed and older ones are revised.
The six-week calendar
Here is the full upcoming schedule by effective week, as it stands today:
- Week of November 3: 2,350 workers
- Week of November 10: 6,887 workers
- Week of November 17: 6,613 workers
- Week of November 24: 9,300 workers
- Week of December 1: 2,398 workers
- Week of December 8: 1,296 workers
Across those six weeks, 28,844 workers are scheduled. The November 24 week alone accounts for about 32 percent of that total — nearly one in three of all scheduled layoffs in the next six weeks.
Why November 24 stands out
Three things make this week worth watching. First, the scale: at 9,300 workers, it is roughly four times the size of the current week (2,350) and about 35 percent larger than the next-heaviest week, November 10 (6,887).
Second, the shape of the calendar around it. The two weeks before it are both heavy — 6,887 and 6,613 — so November 24 is the peak of a three-week run of elevated layoffs, not an isolated spike. Then the calendar falls off a cliff: the week of December 1 drops to 2,398 workers, and December 8 to 1,296. Whatever is driving the late-November concentration, it does not extend into December at anything like the same scale.
Third, the timing. Effective dates in Thanksgiving week mean that for many affected workers, the layoff takes effect during a holiday week — a detail that matters for practical reasons, from final paycheck timing to when state unemployment offices and rapid response teams are reachable.
What these numbers are — and are not
WARN figures describe reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A notice is an employer's advance filing, and the actual number of workers ultimately affected can come in lower if a layoff is scaled back, postponed, or cancelled — or the filing can cover a closure that proceeds exactly as filed. Treat the 9,300 as the scheduled figure, not a final count.
Two more cautions apply to this week's numbers. The registry's 90-day window currently holds 658 notices covering 62,497 reported workers, with 25 notices where no worker count was available. Those unavailable counts are excluded from the totals, so the true scheduled figure for any week could be somewhat higher. And coverage varies by state: some states publish WARN notices promptly and completely, while others are slower or less complete, so a state's absence from the top of a ranking is not proof that no layoffs are happening there.
The national picture behind the week
The national totals behind this calendar are heavily concentrated in two states. California leads with 18,196 reported workers in the 90-day window, followed by Washington with 17,215. Together they account for about 57 percent of all reported workers nationally. Illinois (3,649), Texas (2,978), and Virginia (2,373) round out the top five, each far behind the top two.
That concentration is a reminder that the November 24 peak is probably driven by a small number of large filings rather than a broad national wave. When one or two big notices land in the same effective week, the weekly total jumps — and when they are resolved or rescheduled, it can fall just as fast.
What to watch next
The most recent filings show where the calendar may keep growing. The registry's newest dated notice is Haynes Furniture in Virginia, with 83 workers effective November 2, 2026. Behind it, a cluster of large filings shares a December 31, 2026 effective date — including Comcast's 634-worker Philadelphia technology center filing, Endeavors' 68-worker Florida filing, and AmeriHealth Caritas' 61-worker Orlando filing. December 31 sits outside the six-week window above, but it is already shaping up as the next date to watch once the November wave passes.
For workers with an effective date in the week of November 24, the practical steps are the same as for any WARN notice: confirm the details with your employer, check your state's unemployment filing rules before your last day, and look up your state's rapid response team, which provides free help with job search, retraining, and benefits after a mass layoff.
The calendar will be updated as new notices arrive. If the November 24 total keeps climbing, it will only widen the gap between Thanksgiving week and everything around it.
Data source: Layoff Atlas
