How many people are laid off in Washington state each month?
Updates published monthly
About 42,000 in May 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.
42K
people were laid off or discharged in Washington state in May 2025
197K
layoffs and discharges in Washington state in 2025 so far
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 499,000 layoffs and discharges a year in Washington state. 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 197,000 in Washington state, which is 13.2% higher than the the same period in 2024.
In Washington state, layoffs were 13.2% higher by May 2025 than by May 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in Washington state, seasonally adjusted
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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Washington state’s layoff rate increased between April and May 2025.
Seasonally adjusted US and Washington state monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–May 2025
In May 2025, 1.1% of people employed in Washington state were laid off or discharged, a higher rate than April. Compared to the national numbers, the May 2025 rate in Washington state was higher, meaning a higher share of the Washington state working population was laid off or dismissed in May 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 May 2025, Washington state’s 12-month average layoff rate was lower than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and Washington state, November 2001–May 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%. Washington state’s 12-month average layoff rate was 0.4 percentage points higher than the US rate in June 2009 and was the same in May 2020.
As of May 2025, Washington state's 12-month average layoff rate was lower than the US overall. At 1.0%, Washington state's average layoff and discharge rate was the same compared to one year prior (June 2023–May 2024 average). The rate was the same compared to two years prior (June 2022–May 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.
