Data Sources
Every claim on The Layoff Pulse cites its source. Here is what we ingest, how often, and what each source covers.
State WARN Act Filings
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers with 100+ employees to give 60 days notice before mass layoffs or plant closings. Each state maintains its own public filing portal. Format varies by state: CA provides clean CSV; NY publishes HTML tables; others vary.
Coverage
California (CSV), Texas (HTML), New York (HTML), Florida (HTML), Illinois (HTML), Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, Arizona
Methodology Notes
WARN filings are legally required for layoffs of 50+ workers at companies with 100+ employees. Small businesses and seasonal workers are often exempt. International locations are not covered.
SEC EDGAR 8-K Filings
Publicly traded companies must file an 8-K within 4 business days of a material event, which includes significant workforce reductions. We use SEC's free full-text search API to find 8-Ks mentioning phrases like 'reduction in force,' 'workforce reduction,' 'layoffs,' and 'headcount reduction.'
Coverage
National (public companies)
Methodology Notes
8-K filings cover public companies only. Worker counts are often not specified — the filing may reference a percentage. We flag these events as 'worker count unknown' unless a specific number appears in the document.
PR Newswire RSS
PR Newswire distributes press releases from companies of all sizes. We monitor their RSS feed and classify each release using Claude to determine if it describes a significant workforce reduction. This catches layoffs below WARN thresholds — including private companies with fewer than 100 employees.
Coverage
National
Methodology Notes
Press release classification uses AI and may have occasional false positives or misses. All press releases are linked to the original source. We do not modify quotes from company statements.
On the Roadmap
- • Layoffs.fyi — Tech-focused crowdsourced database. Pending API access.
- • BLS JOLTS data — Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Macro context layer.
- • LinkedIn job postings — Signals from hiring freezes and mass withdrawal of postings.