Insights · Layoffs and H-1B
Groundwork research · Published October 12, 2026 · Updated October 20, 2026 · Data as of October 20, 2026 · 4 min read
Microsoft and Oracle both filed layoff notices with state agencies in the year to October 20, 2026, and both sponsor H-1B workers. Between the same three months a year apart, their certified H-1B wage filings moved in opposite directions: Microsoft's fell 34%, from 2,842 in Jul–Sep 2024 to 1,884 in Jul–Sep 2025, and Oracle's rose 32%, from 203 to 267.
Between October 21, 2025 and October 20, 2026, Oracle filed 12 notices naming 2,324 workers, against 10 naming 774 in the year before. The past year's notices come under 3 names, counted here as one employer: Oracle America, Inc. (10 notices, 1,722 workers), Oracle Corporation (1 notice, 539 workers), and Oracle Pleasanton Campus (1 notice, 63 workers).
Microsoft filed 2 notices naming 647 workers in the same year, after 9 naming 3,254 in the year before. Most of Microsoft's recent layoff filings fall in that earlier year.
Each company also has a notice already on file for a layoff dated after October 20, 2026: Oracle's names 359 workers for November 13, 2026, and Microsoft's names 277 for November 21, 2026. These count in neither year above.
Workers named in layoff notices, by year to October 20, 2026
Among the 54 large H-1B sponsors in our list of sponsors with layoff notices, Oracle ranks 3rd by workers named in the past year and Microsoft 11th.
Employers file far more in some months than others, so the fair comparison is the same months in two years. In Jul–Sep 2024 DOL certified 2,842 wage filings for Microsoft Corporation and 1,884 in Jul–Sep 2025, a fall of 34%. By the number of filings lost, that is the 2nd largest drop among the 300 biggest sponsors in our sponsor trend. For Oracle America, Inc. the count went from 203 to 267, a rise of 32%. Both moves are past the 15% line the site uses to call a sponsor growing or shrinking.
Certified H-1B wage filings, the same three months a year apart
The data also holds Oct 2025–Jun 2026, months with no match a year earlier. One way to set them beside the pair is each employer's share of every certified filing in a window. Microsoft's share went from 2.4% in Jul–Sep 2024 to 1.6% in Jul–Sep 2025 and 1.2% in Oct 2025–Jun 2026, lower in each window. Oracle's went from 0.17% to 0.23% and then 0.18%, close to where it started. Oracle's rise between the two summers is one window's change, and the latest months show it eased.
Each filing names an occupation and the annual wage the employer offers. Software developers lead at both companies. The line under each occupation is its count of filings across the 15 months of DOL decisions we hold.
Median offered annual wage, top occupations by filings
A WARN notice is the advance filing an employer sends to a state agency, typically 60 days before a layoff or closure. It lists a headcount and a place, and some list none, so every worker total here is a floor. A certified wage filing is the step before an H-1B petition: it names a role and the wage offered. The two records describe different steps, and they hold no link between the workers in a notice and the roles in a filing. A large employer can cut jobs in one group and file for hires in another in the same year. How to read layoff notice data sets out what the notices can and cannot say, why some are missing and how a count is made.
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 a year by its event date (the notice date, or the effective date when that is all a state gives),
the same rule our layoff article uses. An employer's notices are those filed under its name or the
register's canonical name for it; notices under other Oracle names are shown apart. 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), under the names Microsoft Corporation and Oracle America, Inc.; filings under other Oracle entities count
separately. Occupations are grouped by their SOC code. Built by scripts/build_insights.py.
Sources: WARN Notice Register; DOL OFLC performance data.
Informational only; not legal, immigration, or financial advice.
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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
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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.