South Carolina suddenly loses 3 factories as economic downturn gains steam

It’s not often that even South Carolina sees factories closing.

Usually when you read about a factory closure, it’s a rust belt state losing a factory which is moving TO South Carolina.

But the warning signs we saw in Georgia were unmistakable…

And now South Carolina, unfortunately, is seeing jobs evaporate as the economy continues to suffer.

3 factories gone – along with far too many jobs

Archer-Daniels-Midland (or ADM, for short) announced in April that it would be closing down its Lancaster, SC soybean crush plant over the next few months. While the company didn’t share how many layoffs would occur, independent estimates hover around 40.

International Paper’s Georgetown plant, by contrast, impacted a whopping 674 jobs when it shut down at the tail end of 2024. Consider that Georgetown’s population is less than 9,000 people. The loss of that factory is just absolutely devastating in a scenario like that.

And finally, Spartanburg – which is gaining jobs at the expense of Windsor, Virginia as Keurig builds up its production capacity – lost an agricultural tire plant in April, at a cost of 90 layoffs.

How can we support these impacted workers? Share ideas and encouragement in the comments.

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