Week Ahead: November 20 Is the Second-Heaviest Upcoming Layoff Week (7,181 Workers)

The week of November 20 is shaping up to be the second-heaviest layoff week on the current WARN calendar, with 7,181 workers scheduled to be affected. Only the week of November 13, at 8,793 workers, carries a larger total. Together, those two back-to-back weeks account for 15,974 planned layoffs — nearly half of everything scheduled across the next six weeks.

These figures come from Layoff Atlas, which tracks advance WARN notices filed with state labor agencies. They describe reported plans, not confirmed job losses: a notice records what an employer says it intends to do, and plans can change before the effective date. Worker totals also exclude records where no headcount was published.

The six-week outlook

Here is the full upcoming picture, by effective week, as listed on Layoff Atlas on October 30, 2026:

• Week of October 30: 7,049 workers
• Week of November 6: 3,302 workers
• Week of November 13: 8,793 workers
• Week of November 20: 7,181 workers
• Week of November 27: 5,778 workers
• Week of December 4: 1,708 workers

The six-week total is 33,811 workers. The November 20 week alone represents about 21 percent of that total — more than four times the lightest week on the calendar, December 4, and more than double the quieter November 6 week.

Notably, November 20 only just edges out the current week: its 7,181 workers sit a narrow 132 above the October 30 week's 7,049. The calendar's weight is therefore concentrated at the front and middle of the window, with three weeks above 7,000 workers before the schedule eases sharply in early December.

Why two heavy weeks in a row matter

A single heavy week can reflect one or two large filings landing on the same effective date. Two consecutive heavy weeks are a different signal: they suggest a broader wave of effective dates clustered in mid-November, rather than one employer's timetable.

Workers and local workforce agencies feel that clustering most. Unemployment claims, Rapid Response services, and retraining programs all absorb demand in the weeks after effective dates, so a mid-November concentration means support services in the hardest-hit states face their busiest stretch of the fall at the same time.

It is also worth noting what the November 20 figure does not show. WARN totals count only qualifying filings that states publish. Smaller layoffs, voluntary departures, and cuts at employers below the WARN thresholds do not appear here, so the real number of people leaving jobs in that week will be higher than 7,181. Missing source coverage is not zero layoffs.

The national backdrop

The week-ahead numbers sit inside a 90-day notice window of 673 WARN notices covering 65,395 reported workers, with 29 additional records carrying no published worker count. That window was last updated on October 29, 2026.

California leads the state ranking with 17,715 workers, followed closely by Washington at 16,879. Illinois (4,385), Texas (3,280), and Georgia (2,492) round out the top five. California and Washington together account for more than half of all workers in the 90-day window, so the national calendar's shape is driven heavily by those two states.

The gap between the top two states has narrowed in recent days, and the weekly totals have been revised with each data refresh as new notices arrive and older ones roll out of the window. Treat any single week's figure as a snapshot, not a final count.

How to read the November 20 number

Three distinctions keep this week's figure honest. First, the effective date is when the layoff takes effect, not when the notice was filed — many of the November 20 effective dates were announced weeks ago. Second, the 7,181 figure counts only workers attached to published notices with effective dates in that week; undated records and records without worker counts are excluded. Third, reporting rules vary by state, so a state with a lower total may simply publish less, not lay off less.

For workers whose effective date falls in the week of November 20, the practical timeline starts now: final pay rules, unemployment filing, and health coverage decisions all turn on the effective date, not the announcement. Anyone unsure whether their employer filed a notice can check their state's WARN listing or ask their state's dislocated worker unit.

The week of November 20 will not be the heaviest week of the fall — that remains November 13 — but as the second-heaviest week, and the second half of a two-week concentration of nearly 16,000 planned layoffs, it is the week to watch after the current one passes.

Data source: Layoff Atlas