Pennsylvania Layoffs 2026: WARN Numbers Explained

Pennsylvania's 2026 WARN data comes with an asterisk that changes how you read every number below: the state's official records have essentially gone dark. As of October 9, 2026, the Layoff Atlas registry holds 74 Pennsylvania WARN notices covering 11,952 reported workers so far this year — and every one of those figures comes from attributed secondary reports, not direct government records.

These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses — a filed notice does not mean every listed worker is actually let go. But WARN filings are the most reliable public signal of where Pennsylvania layoffs are concentrated, and right now that signal is running on a backup generator.

The coverage problem

During the last 365 days, the Layoff Atlas imported archive contains zero eligible official filings for Pennsylvania. The newest official notice date is March 18, 2025 — meaning the state's official WARN feed has not produced a usable record in over a year and a half. Of the 1,896 non-cancelled Pennsylvania notices in the full archive (reporting 256,212 workers all-time), 1,656 are attributed secondary records and only 240 are direct government records.

This is not an accident of one slow quarter. Pennsylvania has no mini-WARN law — it follows only the federal WARN Act thresholds (100+ employees, 60 days' notice) — so there is no state-level legal requirement widening the reporting net the way California's or New Jersey's laws do. A large state with federal-only thresholds and a stalled official feed will always look quieter on paper than the layoffs happening on the ground. Missing coverage is not zero layoffs.

2026 vs the last few years

The year-by-year record from the imported archive:

• 2026 (year to date): 74 notices · 11,952 reported workers
• 2025 (full year): 97 notices · 14,464 reported workers
• 2024 (full year): 84 notices · 10,178 reported workers
• 2023 (full year): 52 notices · 7,160 reported workers
• 2022 (full year): 43 notices · 7,074 reported workers
• 2021 (full year): 55 notices · 8,926 reported workers
• 2020 (full year): 428 notices · 67,171 reported workers

At the current pace, 2026 annualizes to roughly 95–100 notices — essentially level with 2025's 97. Average filing size has ticked up slightly: about 161 workers per notice in 2026 versus about 149 in 2025. Neither year approaches the 2020 pandemic spike (428 notices, 67,171 workers), and both sit well above the quiet years of 2021–2023.

One thing inflates any comparison: 80 Pennsylvania notices have unavailable worker counts, so the true worker total is higher than reported. And 10 notices carry future effective dates — layoffs scheduled but not yet taken effect.

What's on the calendar right now

The effective-date calendar shows a thin but steady stream of Pennsylvania events through the fall:

• Grede — Meadville (Crawford County): plant closure, 170 workers, effective October 10
• United Natural Foods — Philadelphia: closure, 48 workers, effective October 16
• CJ Logistics America — Breinigsville (Lehigh County): closure, 57 workers, effective October 16
• Eos Energy Storage — East Pittsburgh (Allegheny County): layoff, 251 workers, effective October 26
• Mountain Valley Golf Course — Barnesville (Schuylkill County): closure, 111 workers, effective October 31

Upcoming PA effective weeks total about 800 workers — modest against the national calendar, where the weeks of October 30 (8,520 workers) and November 13 (8,556 workers) dominate.

The single largest Pennsylvania record in the archive is the David's Bridal filing — 9,236 reported workers across Allegheny, Blair, Bucks, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Luzerne, Montgomery, and York counties — captured via secondary reports rather than an official state record.

National context

Nationally, the current 90-day WARN window covers 736 notices and 67,888 reported workers. The heaviest states in that window are Washington (16,776 workers), California (16,011), Illinois (4,772), Texas (3,842), and Ohio (3,224) — totals driven by a handful of very large filings. Pennsylvania does not crack that top five, but the comparison is apples to oranges: Washington's and California's numbers rest on deep official records, while Pennsylvania's rest on secondary reporting alone.

What to watch

Pennsylvania's story for the rest of 2026 is really two stories. The first is the visible one: roughly 800 workers with effective dates in the next five weeks, mostly closures in manufacturing, logistics, and food distribution — sectors that have been steady contributors to PA filings all year.

The second is the invisible one: what isn't being reported. Until the official state feed is restored, every Pennsylvania number understates reality by an unknown amount. If the official feed comes back online, expect a one-time jump in the totals that reflects backlogged notices, not a sudden new wave. Until then, treat Pennsylvania's WARN numbers as a floor — the true layoff count is higher, and the gap is a data problem, not a labor-market conclusion.

Data source: Layoff Atlas.