Illinois sits third in the national WARN layoff rankings right now, behind only Washington and California. The state has 4,861 workers affected by WARN notices in Layoff Atlas's current 90-day notice window — a number that tells a distinct story about manufacturing, food processing, and distribution cuts in the Midwest.

The headline figures

As of October 8, 2026, Layoff Atlas tracks 738 active WARN notices covering 67,937 reported workers nationwide. Illinois's share: 4,861 workers, or roughly 7% of the national total. That's less than a third of California's 15,734 and well behind Washington's 16,776 — but well ahead of Texas (3,957) and Ohio (3,224), which round out the top five.

One important caveat before we go further: these are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A WARN notice is an advance notification of an intended layoff or closure, filed with the state labor agency. Plans can be amended, delayed, or withdrawn. The numbers below reflect what employers have announced, not verified final headcounts.

What Illinois's mini-WARN law means for the data

Comparing states on raw WARN numbers is tricky because coverage rules differ. The federal WARN Act generally applies to employers with 100 or more employees. Illinois has its own mini-WARN statute (820 ILCS 65) that lowers the threshold to 75 employees with 60 days' notice.

That matters in both directions. Illinois's lower threshold means more mid-sized layoffs enter the public record than in states like Texas that rely on the federal floor — so Illinois's totals look relatively more complete. The flip side: Illinois data is missing some layoffs below the 75-worker threshold entirely, so even here the true number is higher than what's on paper. Worker totals also exclude records where the headcount is unavailable — 31 such records exist in the national registry — so treat every total as a floor, not a ceiling.

The filings driving Illinois's total

The biggest single driver of Illinois's ranking is a food-processing closure: Tyson Foods filed a WARN notice in August 2026 announcing the closure of its Hillsdale facility, affecting 2,495 workers — more than half of Illinois's entire reported total.

Other significant Illinois filings in the current window include:

  • Essendant (office supply wholesale, HQ in Deerfield): 510 workers at its Lincolnshire facility and 134 at Carol Stream — 644 Illinois workers total, across two WARN notices filed in early August 2026. The layoffs are scheduled for October 3, 2026.
  • Uber Technologies: 363 workers at its Chicago location, filed September 2, 2026.
  • Republic National Distributing: 100 workers in Romeoville and 180 in Niles (June 2026 filings).
  • SCR Medical Transportation: 241 workers in Chicago (filed July 31, 2026).
  • Continental Web Press: 92 workers at its Itasca manufacturing facility, effective November 20, 2026 (filed September 16).
  • Charles Industries: 75 workers in Rantoul — a full closure (filed September 16).
  • MAT Holdings: 97 workers at its Romeoville facility, effective October 31 (filed August 25).

A clear pattern: manufacturing closures and distribution/logistics cuts dominate Illinois's WARN record. Companies like Essendant, Republic National Distributing, CJ Logistics, and D & H Distributing point to strain in wholesale and logistics employment around the Chicago metro — the state's economic center. Food processing shows up too, through the Tyson closure.

Closures vs. layoffs

It's worth distinguishing two kinds of filings. "Closure" means the facility is shutting down entirely — the workers aren't just losing jobs, the site is disappearing. "Layoff" means the employer is reducing headcount while continuing operations. In Illinois's recent record, closures (Tyson, Essendant, Continental Web Press, Charles Industries) account for the largest worker counts. That's a harsher signal for affected communities: when a plant closes, there's no facility to be rehired at.

What to watch next

Nationally, the effective-dates data shows 8,646 workers with layoffs effective the week of October 29, 2026 — the heaviest week in the current window — and elevated figures through mid-November. Illinois filings like Essendant (October 3) and MAT Holdings (October 31) are part of that fall wave. If you're an Illinois worker, union rep, or local official, the effective dates on each notice are the dates that matter — that's when the job losses actually hit.

Workers affected by a WARN filing should know their rights: the notice itself is the employer meeting a legal obligation, and it typically triggers eligibility for unemployment insurance, retraining programs, and rapid-response services from the state's workforce system. Federal WARN violations carry penalties of back pay and benefits per worker for each day of violation, up to 60 days.

The bottom line

Illinois's WARN data tells a story of industrial restructuring rather than broad white-collar layoffs: plant closures and distribution-center cuts, concentrated around Chicago, with one very large food-processing closure driving the headline number. Absolute totals favor big states, and per-capita views shift the picture — but for understanding what's actually happening in Illinois workplaces, the notice-by-notice record is the most concrete source available.

Data source: Layoff Atlas