More rough news out of California as still more jobs are disappearing.
(And this is after a frankly embarrassing string of closures that have already rocked the Golden State’s economy.)
California’s manufacturing landscape is bracing for another major shift as two large industrial employers prepare to close facilities by the end of 2025, cutting hundreds of jobs and tightening the state’s food and packaging workforce.
PepsiCo recently closed its long-running Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Rancho Cucamonga, a fixture in the region for more than fifty years. The facility, which employed over 400 workers, is one of many factories closing as the company restructures operations and consolidates production at newer sites. This ends decades of continuous snack-food production in San Bernardino County.
Unfortunately, the pain doesn’t stop there. Smurfit Westrock has announced plans to close its corrugated-packaging plant in the City of Industry, with another 140+ jobs lost. (The factory is slated to close in mid-December.)
Both closures underscore the cost pressures bearing down on California’s industrial base. Rising expenses for materials, labor, and energy have eroded margins across the food and packaging industries, while shifts in trade and logistics have made operating older facilities increasingly difficult. Companies are responding by consolidating capacity into larger or more efficient plants, often outside the state.
And let’s face it – the trade war hasn’t helped the situation. With international demand cratering thanks to retaliatory tariffs and boycotts of American goods, American food producers are struggling to sell their supply.
This unfortunately sets the economy on a path where caution breeds more caution. Companies, facing sluggish sales, begin to cut production and reduce payrolls. Those moves sow fear among consumers, who respond by tightening budgets and putting off discretionary purchases. That caution pulls demand even lower, driving another wave of business cutbacks. The process is difficult to arrest once it begins — and its toll, measured in lost livelihoods, will fall most heavily on the hardworking folks who keep the economy running.
Please join us in wishing all the impacted workers well – it’s a tough job market out there, and we’re rooting for the hardworking folks in Rancho Cucamonga and City of Industry!
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