How many people are laid off in South Dakota each month?
Refreshed annually
An average of 5,600 people were laid off each month in South Dakota in 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.
5.58K
people were laid off or discharged in South Dakota on average each month in 2025
67K
layoffs and discharges in South Dakota in 2025
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 72,900 layoffs and discharges a year in South 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. In 2025, layoffs and discharges total 67,000 in South Dakota, which is 6.3% higher than the total in 2024.
In South Dakota, layoffs were 6.3% higher in 2025 than in 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in South Dakota, not seasonally adjusted
What is the layoff rate in South 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.
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South Dakota’s monthly layoff rate ranged from 0.9% to 1.3% in 2025.
Seasonally adjusted South Dakota monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–December 2025
The monthly layoff rate in South Dakota ranged from 0.9% to 1.3% in 2025. It was highest in May, June, July, August, September, and December and lowest in November.
Average layoff and discharge rates are also useful to consider because they smooth out short-term fluctuations and clarify long-term trends.
In 2025, South Dakota's average monthly layoff rate was higher than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and South Dakota, November 2001–December 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 July 2009 at 1.8% and during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 at 2.4%. South Dakota’s 12-month average layoff rate was the same as the US rate in July 2009 and 0.2 percentage points lower in May 2020.
Compared to the national numbers, the average 2025 monthly layoff rate in South Dakota was higher than the national rate. At 1.2%, South Dakota's average layoff and discharge rate increased compared to the previous year.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
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.
