I built WARN Firehose because I was frustrated trying to track layoff data across the US. The WARN Act requires companies with 100+ employees to file public notices 60 days before mass layoffs — but the data is scattered across 50 state websites with different formats, broken links, and no API.
WARN Firehose scrapes every state workforce agency daily and normalizes the data into a single database going back to 1988. It now has 131,000+ notices covering 14 million workers.
- Journalists breaking layoff stories before press releases
- Quant funds using WARN filings as an alternative data signal (filings happen ~60 days before layoffs)
- Recruiters sourcing from displaced talent pools
- Researchers studying labor market dynamics
- Workforce development boards doing rapid response planning
*Tech stack:* Python/FastAPI, SQLite, scrapers for all 50 states, static HTML generation for SEO pages, Claude Haiku for AI analysis, deployed on EC2.
Free tier is genuinely useful (100 API calls/day, dashboard access, charts). Paid plans start at $19/mo for full historical data and bulk exports.
Would love feedback on the API design, data quality, or anything else. Happy to answer questions.
Hi HN,
I built WARN Firehose because I was frustrated trying to track layoff data across the US. The WARN Act requires companies with 100+ employees to file public notices 60 days before mass layoffs — but the data is scattered across 50 state websites with different formats, broken links, and no API.
WARN Firehose scrapes every state workforce agency daily and normalizes the data into a single database going back to 1988. It now has 131,000+ notices covering 14 million workers.
*What you can do:*
- Browse interactive charts and data tables (no account needed): https://warnfirehose.com/data - Drill into any state, city, company, or industry: https://warnfirehose.com/data/layoffs - Query the REST API (free tier: 100 calls/day): https://warnfirehose.com/docs - Export in CSV, JSON, NDJSON, Parquet, or JSON-LD - Set up webhooks for real-time alerts on new filings
*Who uses this:*
- Journalists breaking layoff stories before press releases - Quant funds using WARN filings as an alternative data signal (filings happen ~60 days before layoffs) - Recruiters sourcing from displaced talent pools - Researchers studying labor market dynamics - Workforce development boards doing rapid response planning
*Tech stack:* Python/FastAPI, SQLite, scrapers for all 50 states, static HTML generation for SEO pages, Claude Haiku for AI analysis, deployed on EC2.
Free tier is genuinely useful (100 API calls/day, dashboard access, charts). Paid plans start at $19/mo for full historical data and bulk exports.
Would love feedback on the API design, data quality, or anything else. Happy to answer questions.
Now we need a usable website that uses this API to show latest layoffs in, for example, CA.
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