Illinois has had a bad run in 2025, no doubt about it.
The food sector has been particularly hard hit, with grocery stores closing around the state.
(And several factories have unfortunately gone belly-up, too.)
The worse news is – it looks like the pain could be just beginning.
Because yet another factory in Illinois has recently closed down, at the cost of 274 jobs.
This time the victim is Momence, Illinois, population 3,100, which recently lost the Johnsonville packing plant.
This was a major employer for the area – again, 274 jobs on a population of just over 3,000 – and the plant has been in operation since 1962.
So this was a huge pillar of the community for decades and decades – now gone and set to be demolished by the end of the year.
The age of the plant, unfortunately, probably provides a clue as to why it was selected for closure as Johnsonville downsizes.
Consider all the technological innovations since 1962.
This plant was designed with none of them in mind. That all but guarantees that there were lots of inefficiencies that required more people on the line than a factory whose footprint was designed for more automation.
So if there are jobs to cut – that’s likely one of the first places to go.
And unfortunately, the food industry writ large is going through a contraction as the deadly combination of tariffs, slowing economy, and stubborn inflation continues to eat into companies’ bottom lines.
Or put a different way – don’t be surprised if these aren’t the last layoffs of 2025. As the trade situation continues to get worse and domestic demand declines further as Americans tighten their belts, we may see quite a few more food companies cut production even further.
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