Insights · Layoffs and H-1B
Groundwork research · Published October 5, 2026 · Updated October 20, 2026 · Data as of October 20, 2026 · 4 min read
Between October 21, 2025 and October 20, 2026, employers filed 4,099 layoff notices covering 356,226 workers in the state WARN registers we track. 930 employers listed 100 or more workers, and 54 of them also filed 100 or more H-1B wage disclosures with the Labor Department in the 15 months of decisions we hold.
These 12 employers listed the most workers in notices among the 54 sponsors. The line under each name is its count of certified H-1B wage disclosures in our data and the date of its latest notice.
Workers listed in layoff notices, October 21, 2025 to October 20, 2026
Today, a worker in H-1B status who stops working for the sponsoring employer is generally treated as keeping status for up to 60 consecutive days, or until the authorized stay ends if that comes sooner, once in each period of authorized stay. That time is the window to find a new sponsor, change status or leave the country. The rule is 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2).
On September 11, 2026, DHS published a proposed rule, Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period, that would remove it for H-1B and several other work statuses. Public comments are open until November 10, 2026. A proposal changes nothing until DHS issues a final rule, and the current 60 days apply in the meantime.
Workers listed in layoff notices by state, all employers
A WARN notice is the advance filing that an employer with roughly 100 or more employees sends to a state agency, typically 60 days before a layoff or closure. It lists a headcount and a place. The register carries no record of who is affected or what visa status anyone holds, so the worker totals here are all workers, and the H-1B counts show how large a sponsor is. 96 of the 4,099 notices list no headcount, which makes every worker total a floor. A listing that repeats an earlier one counts once, and a notice the register labels as amended, rescinded or outside WARN is left out. How to read layoff notice data sets out what the notices can and cannot say and why some are missing.
Layoff notices: the open WARN Notice Register, a consolidated copy of the listings state workforce agencies publish, current through
October 20, 2026. A notice counts in the 12 months ending that date by its event date (the notice date, or the effective date when
that is all a state gives). H-1B filings: certified wage disclosures (LCAs) in DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data, 15 months of DOL decisions (Jul–Sep 2024, Jul–Sep 2025, Oct 2025–Jun 2026).
An employer in a notice is matched to its H-1B filings by name, as filed or as the register's canonical name, with each approved family of names
(Amazon files under a dozen) counted as one employer; a sponsor filed under another spelling is missed. A wage disclosure comes before a petition, so a high count shows
scale and says little about how many visa holders work there. Built by scripts/build_insights.py.
Sources: WARN Notice Register; DOL OFLC performance data; 8 CFR 214.1.
Informational only; not legal, immigration, or financial advice.
Look up any employer's layoff notices, H-1B hiring trend and wage-and-hour record, with your own target salary range.
Check a job or an employer → · Layoff notices by employer →Get new articles and the biggest layoff notices
One email a week, sent only when there is something new.
Every message has an unsubscribe link. How we use your address
What happens after a layoff: the BLS survey of 3.3 million workers
Who lost a job held for three years or more, why it ended, how many had written notice, who was working again in January 2026 by industry and kind of work, and what the next job paid.
Amazon: 9,746 workers in 30 layoff notices
What state layoff notices and Labor Department H-1B filings show for Amazon: the notices over the past year, the sites, and the sponsorship record.
How to read OEWS wage data: 824 occupations in 393 metros
The columns and symbols of the OEWS workbooks, what a wage and a percentile mean, how precise the numbers are, and how the H-1B wage levels are built from them.
How to read the H-1B LCA disclosure data: what 661,885 filings hold
The fields of an LCA, the case statuses, wage units and wage levels, and what the quarterly files leave out, with what 661,885 certified filings show.
How to read a WARN notice: what 4,099 state filings contain
What the notices can say, why some are missing, the federal rules and the state lists, the fields of a WARN notice and how we count them, with what a year of notices shows.
Kroger: 19 layoff notices naming 3,066 workers
The state layoff notices filed by Kroger, its warehouse company and its grocery chains: 19 notices and at least 3,066 workers in a year, with the wage and H-1B records alongside.
Wage data: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC LCA Disclosure Data and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS. LCA filings reflect sponsored-worker wage offers, which skew toward mid-large employers and specific occupations — treat any estimate built from a small sample cautiously. Informational only; not legal, immigration, or financial advice.