How many people are laid off in California each month?
Updated monthly
About 216,000 in November 2025. This includes all terminations of employment by an employer — called layoffs and discharges — such as permanent layoffs, temporary layoffs, and terminations because of mergers, downsizing, closings, or employee performance.
216K
people were laid off or discharged in California in November 2025
2.18M
layoffs and discharges in California in 2025 so far
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 2,504,421 layoffs and discharges a year in California. Increases in layoffs often reflect recessions or other economic disruption. For example, record-setting layoffs and discharges occurred in March and April of 2020 because of COVID-19. So far in 2025, layoffs and discharges total 2,179,000 in California, which is 4.1% higher than the same period in 2024.
In California, layoffs were 4.1% higher by November 2025 than by November 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in California, seasonally adjusted
What is the layoff rate in California?
Another way to consider this data is to look at the layoff and discharge rate. This puts layoffs and discharges in the context of the total number of people working by showing layoffs and discharges as a percent of employed people who were laid off during the given time period. This rate allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
California’s layoff rate decreased between October and November 2025.
Seasonally adjusted US and California monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–November 2025
In November 2025, 1.2% of people employed in California were laid off or discharged, a lower rate than October. Compared to the national numbers, the November 2025 rate in California was higher, meaning a higher share of the California working population was laid off or dismissed in November 2025 compared to the US overall.
Average layoff and discharge rates are also useful to consider because they smooth out short-term fluctuations and clarify long-term trends.
In November 2025, California’s 12-month average layoff rate was the same as the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and California, November 2001–November 2025
During the first 20 years of data, the 12-month average layoff and discharge rate in the US peaked at the end of the Great Recession in June 2009 at 1.8% and during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 at 2.4%. California’s 12-month average layoff rate was the same as the US rate in June 2009 and the same in May 2020.
As of November 2025, California’s 12-month average layoff rate was the same as the US overall. At 1.1%, California’s average layoff and discharge rate remained the same compared to one year prior (December 2023–November 2024 average). The rate increased 0.1 percentage points compared to two years prior (December 2022–November 2023 average).
Keep exploring
Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
