California Layoff Report: Q3 2026

California employers filed 335 WARN layoff notices covering 16,504 workers in the third quarter of 2026, according to Employees First Labor Law’s analysis of state Employment Development Department (EDD) data. That is 18.6% fewer workers than in the third quarter of 2025 and the lowest total of the last five quarters.

The quarterly total hides two shifts. Layoff notices picked up sharply in September, and the Bay Area went against the statewide trend. The region accounted for 46% of all affected workers, up from 32% a year earlier, as notices fell in Southern California, San Diego and the Sacramento area.

This is our first quarterly California Layoff Report. It is built from every Cal-WARN notice the EDD received between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2026, the same data behind our free California Layoff Tracker. We compare it with the EDD’s published report for July 2025 through June 2026.

The quarter in numbers

The EDD received 335 WARN notices in the third quarter, from 225 different employers. Together they reported 16,504 affected workers. A year earlier, the EDD received 381 notices covering 20,284 workers. Each of the previous four quarters topped 19,700 workers, so Q3 2026 was the lightest of the last five quarters.

Quarter (by date EDD received the notice)	Notices	Workers affected
Q3 2025 (July–Sept.)	381	20,284
Q4 2025 (Oct.–Dec.)	414	19,783
Q1 2026 (Jan.–March)	376	21,199
Q2 2026 (April–June)	422	20,482
Q3 2026 (July–Sept.)	335	16,504

Notices also got smaller. The median notice covered 12 workers, compared with 19 in Q3 2025. Forty-seven notices covered 100 or more workers, and those large notices accounted for 9,785 workers, or 59% of the total.

WARN notices are not the only measure of job cuts. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks announced cuts rather than state filings, counted 114,818 California job cuts from January through September, the most of any state. We covered that report in our September layoff analysis. WARN data captures a narrower slice: the layoffs and closures employers formally report to the state, usually 60 days ahead.

The September spike

The quarter started quietly. The EDD received 83 notices in July, about half as many as in July 2025, covering 4,569 workers. August was busier, with 101 notices and 4,841 workers.

September was different. The EDD received 151 notices, up 62% from 93 in September 2025, and they covered 7,094 workers, up 18%. Only April had more notices this year.

The single largest notice of the quarter landed at the end of September. Covenant Aviation Security, which has run passenger and baggage screening at San Francisco International Airport for 24 years, filed a notice covering 1,279 employees after the Transportation Security Administration awarded the screening contract to VMD Corp. According to Aviation Pros, Covenant plans to lay off the workers effective Nov. 30, VMD takes over on Dec. 1, and the airport’s worker retention policy requires the new contractor to keep existing employees for a 90-day trial period.

Whether September marks a turn or a one-month bump will show up in the fourth-quarter data, which we plan to publish in January.

Where layoffs hit

Los Angeles County filed the most notices by far: 111, a third of the state total. But those notices covered 2,977 workers, down 25% from 3,982 a year earlier. Most LA notices were small. The median covered 5 workers, 89 of the 111 covered fewer than 25, and real estate and administrative-support employers filed more than half of them.

The Bay Area moved the other way. Across Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties, notices covered 7,570 workers, up 15% from 6,577 in Q3 2025. San Francisco’s total more than doubled to 2,066 workers, driven by the SFO screening contract. San Mateo rose 78% to 1,412, including Visa in Foster City and Oracle in Redwood City. Santa Clara County, at 2,273 workers, was down 27% but still ranked second in the state.

County	Q3 2026 workers	Q3 2025 workers	Change
Los Angeles	2,977	3,982	−25%
Santa Clara	2,273	3,098	−27%
San Francisco	2,066	858	+141%
San Mateo	1,412	794	+78%
Orange	1,146	1,485	−23%
Alameda	906	1,239	−27%
Kern	792	1,137	−30%
San Diego	686	2,221	−69%
Tulare	558	475	+17%
San Bernardino	434	384	+13%
Stanislaus	433	177	+145%
Sacramento	413	1,094	−62%

Elsewhere, the Central Valley rose 13% to 2,235 workers, led by food processing and temporary plant shutdowns in Kern and Tulare counties. Notices fell sharply in the Inland Empire (586 workers, down 62%), San Diego and Imperial counties (777, down 65%) and the Sacramento region (633, down 66%).

Industries

Manufacturing accounted for the most affected workers: 4,780 in 52 notices, or 29% of the statewide total. Food makers were prominent, including Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Bumble Bee Foods, Amy’s Kitchen, Ruiz Food Products and Sapporo U.S.A., along with electronics makers such as Jabil and LeeMAH Electronics.

Administrative and support services, the category that includes security, staffing and facilities contractors, came second with 2,619 workers, nearly half of them from the SFO screening contract. Health care and social assistance filed the most notices of any industry, 56, covering 1,913 workers. The largest was 24 Hour Home Care’s notice for 738 workers in El Segundo, which the company tied to Health Net ending a Medi-Cal home care benefit on Jan. 1, 2027.

Industry (as listed by the EDD)	Notices	Workers
Manufacturing	52	4,780
Administrative, support and waste management	46	2,619
Health care and social assistance	56	1,913
Professional, scientific and technical services	21	1,410
Accommodation and food services	13	1,185
Finance and insurance	14	846
Transportation and warehousing	19	737
Information	8	636
Retail trade	9	510
All other industries	97	1,868

The largest notices

These employers reported the most affected workers in Q3 2026. Totals combine all of an employer’s notices during the quarter. Industry labels are the EDD’s.

Employer	Location	Type	Workers
Covenant Aviation Security	San Francisco (SFO)	Permanent layoff	1,279
24Hr Homecare	El Segundo	Permanent layoff	738
Randstad Inhouse Services	Bakersfield, Tulare	Temporary closure	516
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream	Tulare, Bakersfield	Temporary closure	442
LeeMAH Electronics	Brisbane	Permanent closure	417
Jabil	San Jose	Temporary closure	382
Oracle America	Redwood City, Santa Clara	Permanent layoff	378
Visa	Foster City	Permanent layoff	320
ServiceNow	Santa Clara, San Diego	Permanent layoff	287
Renewal by Andersen	Torrance, Orange, Laguna Hills	Permanent layoff	284
IPS Nationwide	Newark, Costa Mesa	Permanent layoff	262
Monterey Mushrooms	Morgan Hill	Permanent layoff	253
PayPal	San Jose	Permanent layoff	251
LAZ Parking California	Los Angeles	Permanent layoff	247
Silgan Containers	Riverbank, Modesto	Temporary layoff	235

Several notices we covered during the quarter fell just below this list, including Roskam Foods’ San Dimas plant closure (115 workers) and Salesforce’s August notice (74 workers).

Closures and notice timing

Most notices were permanent layoffs: 221 notices covering 10,053 workers. Permanent closures, where a worksite shuts down for good, fell to 66 notices and 4,068 workers, from 96 notices and 6,390 workers a year earlier. Temporary closures covered 1,749 workers, mostly from three employers: Dreyer’s and the staffing firm Randstad Inhouse Services at sites in Bakersfield and Tulare, and Jabil in San Jose.

Notice type	Notices	Workers
Permanent layoff	221	10,053
Permanent closure	66	4,068
Temporary closure	10	1,749
Temporary layoff	6	474
Permanent relocation	1	73
Layoff, duration not yet known	31	87

Cal-WARN generally requires covered employers to give workers 60 days’ written notice before a mass layoff, relocation or closure (Labor Code 1401). In Q3 2026, 98 of 335 notices, or 29%, listed an effective date less than 60 days after the notice date, covering 4,074 workers. Twenty notices listed an effective date less than 30 days out. In Q3 2025, the share was 39%.

A short gap on paper does not mean an employer broke the law. Some notices are filed voluntarily for layoffs too small to require them. Many employers pay workers through the full 60 days, and some events fall under exceptions. But for workers, a short gap is a reason to check whether they were paid what Cal-WARN requires.

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What this means for workers

If your name was on one of these notices, these are the rights that matter most:

• 60 days’ notice or pay. If a covered employer gave less than 60 days’ notice, you may be owed back pay and benefits for each day of the shortfall, up to 60 days. See our Cal-WARN notice rights guide.
• Final pay on your last day. All earned wages, including unused vacation or PTO, are due when you are laid off. Late pay can trigger a waiting-time penalty of up to 30 days’ wages. Read about final paycheck rules.
• Time to review a severance release. California requires at least five business days and notice of your right to a lawyer. Workers 40 and older in a group layoff get 45 days, 7 days to revoke, and a list of the ages of those selected. Our severance agreement guide explains what to check.
• Layoffs can’t be a cover for discrimination or retaliation. If age, disability, pregnancy, leave or a complaint played a part in who was chosen, you may have a claim even in a real reorganization.
• Contractor changeovers. When a service contract changes hands, as at SFO, local worker retention rules may require the new contractor to keep existing staff for a trial period. Ask about your retention rights in writing.
• Coming in 2027. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, SB 951 will require Cal-WARN notices to say when a layoff is caused in whole or in substantial part by AI or automation. Our Q1 2027 report will be the first to track those disclosures.

To see whether your employer has filed a notice, search by company, city or county on our California layoffs directory.

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Methodology

This report counts every Cal-WARN notice the EDD lists as received from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2026. The data comes from the EDD’s published WARN report, which our California Layoff Tracker imports daily. It was current as of Oct. 11, 2026. Prior quarters come from the EDD’s report for July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, also grouped by received date.

• Workers means the number of employees each employer reported as affected. Employers can revise these numbers, and the EDD may add late-received notices.
• Employers are counted by name, after combining small spelling differences. One employer can file several notices for different sites.
• Counties are those listed by the EDD. Our Bay Area total covers Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties.
• Industries come from the EDD’s current report. The prior-year report does not list industry, so we do not compare industries year over year.
• Notice timing compares each notice’s listed notice date with its listed effective date. It is not a finding that any employer violated the law.

Reporters and researchers are welcome to use these figures with a link to this page. The underlying notices can be searched and downloaded from the tracker.

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Frequently asked questions

How many layoffs were there in California in Q3 2026?

Employers filed 335 WARN notices with the EDD from July through September 2026, covering 16,504 workers. That is down 18.6% from 20,284 workers in Q3 2025.

Which county had the most layoffs?

Los Angeles County had the most affected workers (2,977) and the most notices (111). Santa Clara (2,273), San Francisco (2,066) and San Mateo (1,412) followed.

What was the largest layoff notice?

Covenant Aviation Security’s notice covering 1,279 screening workers at San Francisco International Airport, after the TSA moved the contract to VMD Corp. VMD is set to take over Dec. 1.

Why are these numbers lower than other layoff counts?

WARN notices cover only layoffs and closures that employers report to the state, usually at larger worksites. Counts of announced job cuts, such as Challenger’s, include company announcements that may not require a California filing, so they run much higher.

When is the next report?

We plan to publish the Q4 2026 report in January 2027, after the EDD posts December’s notices.

Sources

• California EDD: WARN layoff notices and reports
• California EDD: WARN Report, July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 (PDF)
• Employees First Labor Law: California Layoff Tracker
• Aviation Pros: SFO to transition security screening contract to VMD Corp.
• Home Health Care News: 24 Hour Home Care to lay off over 700 employees
• Challenger, Gray & Christmas: September 2026 job cuts report
• Littler: California amends its WARN Act again (SB 951)

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