Thanksgiving Week Layoffs: 6,527 Workers Scheduled for Job Cuts, WARN Data Shows

The week of Thanksgiving 2026 is shaping up to be one of the heaviest layoff weeks of the fall. WARN filings tracked by Layoff Atlas show 6,527 workers with layoffs scheduled to take effect during the week of November 22–28 — the week that includes Thanksgiving Day on November 26.

The number makes it the second-heaviest upcoming week currently on the calendar, behind only the week of November 15, which has 7,781 workers scheduled.

The upcoming weeks, by the numbers

Reported workers by effective week, from current WARN filings:

• Week of October 18: 1,972 workers
• Week of October 25: 5,802 workers
• Week of November 1: 4,565 workers
• Week of November 8: 5,311 workers
• Week of November 15: 7,781 workers
• Week of November 22: 6,527 workers

Nationally, Layoff Atlas currently tracks 737 notices covering 67,101 reported workers in its rolling 90-day window (updated October 18, 2026). The states carrying the largest totals in that window are Washington (16,855 workers), California (15,067), Illinois (4,626), Texas (3,784), and Ohio (3,180).

The Thanksgiving-week figure is notable partly because of where it sits: between the heaviest week of the season (November 15) and the start of December, when the next wave of recently filed notices begins to take effect. Employers filing WARN notices in mid-October — such as Behlen Building Systems' 55-worker Sarasota, Florida filing (notice October 15, effective December 18) and Builders FirstSource's 82-worker Jacksonville filing (notice October 13, effective December 12) — land their 60-day effective dates in mid-December, extending the heavy stretch into the holidays.

Why the holiday timing matters

An effective date the week of Thanksgiving carries practical weight that a date in an ordinary week does not. For workers, the final scheduled workday often falls just before or during the holiday week, which can compress the timeline for filing unemployment claims, since state offices close for the holiday and claim processing slows. Severance paperwork, benefits continuation forms, and job-search paperwork all compete with a week when much of the country is offline.

For employers, scheduling an effective date in a holiday week is usually a function of the 60-day WARN clock, not the calendar: a notice filed in late September lands in late November regardless of the holiday. But the effect is the same — thousands of workers begin their job search during the slowest hiring stretch of the year, when many companies pause recruiting until January.

Reading the numbers

WARN notices are advance notifications of qualifying mass layoffs and plant closures, filed with state labor agencies. They describe reported plans, not confirmed job losses — notices can be amended or cancelled, some affected workers transfer to other locations, and coverage and reporting rules vary by state. A state with no filings on the books is not necessarily a state with no layoffs; it may be a state with weaker reporting.

The week-by-week figures are also a snapshot, not a final count. New notices are filed daily, and each one adds workers to a future effective week. The 6,527 figure for Thanksgiving week will move as October's filings continue to land — and the November 15 total of 7,781 has itself been climbing as new notices arrive.

For the workers behind these numbers, the practical steps after a WARN filing are the usual ones: confirm unemployment benefit eligibility early (ideally before the holiday closure), review any severance or transfer offers in writing, and remember that federal law entitles workers to full pay during the 60-day notice period.

Data source: Layoff Atlas.