recession.world · chart
Sectors Hit Hardest by Layoffs
Total workers affected by industry sector over the last 12 months.
Key takeaway: Other leads all sectors with 18,051 workers affected in the last 12 months.
What this chart shows
Total workers affected by layoff events, grouped by industry sector. Sectors are assigned at ingest time based on the filing company's primary business classification — a media company laying off journalists is 'Media', not 'Technology', even if the parent is a tech conglomerate.
Why sector data matters
Sector-level data reveals which parts of the economy are contracting structurally versus cyclically. Sustained multi-quarter declines in a sector usually precede broader category weakness in hiring, wages, and venture investment. Transient sector spikes (a single massive filing) stand out visually and can be filtered by dropping to a shorter lookback.
Data sources
Sector tags come from the layoff_events.sector column, populated either directly from WARN filings (some states categorize industries) or inferred from SEC classification codes and company metadata. Coverage improves over time as we refine the taxonomy.
How to read it
Sectors are ranked by total workers affected. A sector with one 10,000-person filing can outrank a sector with fifty 100-person filings — hover to see filing count alongside worker count. Small sectors with zero filings are excluded.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the sector classification come from?
WARN filings occasionally include an industry code; otherwise we classify based on SEC SIC codes or the company's public business description. We don't use self-reported categories from press releases — those are inconsistent.
Why is 'Technology' such a broad bucket?
Because the line between adtech, SaaS, fintech, and big tech platforms is blurry in practice. Our taxonomy trades granularity for comparability across time.