How many people are laid off in North Dakota each month?
Updated monthly
About 5,000 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.
5K
people were laid off or discharged in North Dakota in November 2025
71K
layoffs and discharges in North Dakota in 2025 so far
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 76,789 layoffs and discharges a year in North Dakota. 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 71,000 in North Dakota, which is 10.9% higher than the the same period in 2024.
In North Dakota, layoffs were 10.9% higher by November 2025 than by November 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in North Dakota, seasonally adjusted
What is the layoff rate in North Dakota?
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.
North Dakota’s layoff rate decreased between October and November 2025.
Seasonally adjusted US and North Dakota monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–November 2025
In November 2025, 1.1% of people employed in North Dakota were laid off or discharged, a lower rate than October. Compared to the national numbers, the November 2025 rate in North Dakota was the same, meaning the same share of the North Dakota 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, North Dakota’s 12-month average layoff rate was higher than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and North Dakota, 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%. North Dakota’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, North Dakota’s 12-month average layoff rate was higher than the US overall. At 1.4%, North Dakota’s average layoff and discharge rate increased 0.1 percentage points compared to one year prior (December 2023–November 2024 average). The rate increased 0.2 percentage points compared to two years prior (December 2022–November 2023 average).
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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.
