COLUMBUS, Ohio — A wave of layoffs and business closures has swept across Ohio since the start of the year, with nearly 4,000 workers affected across 37 companies and 10 industry sectors, according to public notices filed with the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.
WARN Act filings — federal notices companies are required to submit before large-scale layoffs or closures — show 3,935 Ohio workers have been impacted between January and April 2026, painting a troubling picture of the state’s economic health heading into the second quarter.
The hardest-hit sector is automotive parts manufacturing, which accounts for 1,433 job losses. First Brands Group alone filed notices across five separate facilities in Cuyahoga, Darke, Wood, and Seneca counties, affecting more than 1,200 workers. Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Findlay added another 85 losses to that total.
Logistics and supply chain operations saw the second-largest impact with 836 jobs lost. Zenith Logistics in Cincinnati leads that category with 225 positions eliminated, followed by closures at GEODIS in Ashville, GXO Logistics in West Jefferson, Ten Sixty Logistics in Etna, and several others across the state.
General manufacturing accounted for 600 additional losses, while education saw a significant blow with Lourdes University in Sylvania announcing a closure affecting 387 employees — one of the largest single-employer closures on the list.
Retail and food service contributed 244 losses, with Panera in West Chester, two Saks Fifth Avenue locations, and others filing notices. Financial services shed 162 positions, and defense and technology firms, including Astrion in Beavercreek and Sumaria Systems in Dayton, reported a combined 118 layoffs.
The closures span nearly every corner of the state — from Toledo and Cleveland in the north to Cincinnati and Dayton in the southwest — suggesting the economic pressure is not isolated to any single region.
Several of the closures carry immediate deadlines. Multiple filings list layoff dates in April and May of this year, meaning thousands of those workers are already out of work or will be within weeks.