How we collect, verify, and publish WARN Act layoff data.
WARNact is an independent tracker of WARN Act layoff notices filed across the United States. We aggregate public filings from state workforce agencies, standardize the data into a consistent format, and publish it in a way that is searchable by state, city, and company.
The site exists for the people who need this information most: workers who just found out their job may be ending. Every page includes practical next steps, links to unemployment insurance, local job centers, and career resources.
We are not affiliated with any government agency. WARNact is independently operated.
All layoff data comes directly from official WARN Act filings published by state workforce agencies. We do not use crowdsourced data, news reports, or third-party aggregators as primary sources.
Each state publishes WARN data in a different format. Some use searchable databases. Others post spreadsheets, PDFs, or HTML tables. WARNact has built extraction pipelines tailored to each state's publication format, covering APIs, web scraping, file downloads, and PDF parsing.
We currently collect data from 48 states and the District of Columbia. A small number of states either do not publish WARN data publicly or block automated access. For more detail on which states are included and why some are missing, see Why Some Filings Are Missing.
After extraction, every filing passes through a multi-stage processing pipeline:
Normalization. Raw data from each state arrives in inconsistent formats. Company names, city fields, date formats, and worker counts are standardized into a uniform schema. City fields are cleaned to remove addresses, county data, and artifacts from PDF parsing.
Canonicalization. Company names are resolved to a single canonical form using an alias database with over 400 entries. This means filings for "Amazon.com Services LLC," "Amazon Fulfillment," and "Amazon" all appear under one company page. Aliases are reviewed manually before being added.
Deduplication. Filings that appear in multiple state data sources or are published with minor variations are identified and consolidated to prevent double-counting.
Industry classification. Where possible, filings are tagged with a two-digit NAICS industry sector code based on company name matching against SEC registrant data and manual classification.
WARNact displays the most recent 24 months of filings. This is a deliberate choice.
Historical WARN data across states is inconsistent. Some states publish records back to the 1990s. Others started only recently. Data formats, reporting thresholds, and field definitions have changed over time within individual states. Presenting a 15-year cross-state comparison would create the appearance of completeness without the underlying data quality to support it.
By limiting the window to 24 months, we ensure that the data on every page reflects current reporting standards and is comparable across states. This makes the site more useful for the people who rely on it: workers checking recent filings and analysts tracking current layoff activity.
Data is collected from state agencies and published on a daily cycle during business days. The pipeline runs automatically. Each run extracts new filings, processes them through normalization and canonicalization, and rebuilds the site.
Because states publish on their own schedules, there may be a lag between when a WARN notice is filed with a state agency and when it appears on WARNact. Most filings appear within one to three business days of publication by the source agency.
Not every state is covered. A small number of states do not publish WARN data online, restrict automated access, or publish in formats that cannot be reliably parsed. See Why Some Filings Are Missing for details.
Worker counts may not reflect final outcomes. WARN filings are advance notices. The number of workers ultimately affected may be higher or lower than the number reported in the original filing. Some employers file amended notices that reduce or increase the count.
Industry classification is approximate. Not all filings include SIC or NAICS codes. Our classification is based on company name matching and may be inaccurate for diversified companies or subsidiaries operating in a different sector than their parent.
Filings are not layoffs. A WARN notice indicates that a layoff, closure, or relocation is planned. It does not confirm that the event occurred as described. Some filings are later rescinded or modified.
For data corrections, questions about methodology, or press inquiries: [email protected]
If you believe any information on this site is inaccurate, please let us know. We take data quality seriously and investigate every report.