Bimbo Plant Closure Brings Sacramento Area Jobs Lost To 1,100 In A Year
ELK GROVE (CBS13) — Bimbo Bakeries is the latest factory in the Sacramento region to shut down, leaving more than 100 people out of work just before the holidays.
It worries neighbors who live just a few houses away from the Elk Grove plant. Their friends may have to leave town.
"So now what are they going to do?" said Kathy Rice. "They are going to have to find another job and it ain't easy because there are not a lot of factory places."
Dr. Sanjay Varshney is the head of business at Sacramento State. He has been watching this trend. he says a tough business climate may be to blame.
"There has been some consolidation in that industry. That industry has also come under pressure from a pricing perspective."
With rising costs for factories, Sacramento is the one ultimately losing.
Campbell's Soup's closure cut 700 jobs. The Hostess strike led to 300 more people losing their monthly paychecks. And now 128 employees at Bimbo will need to find work as well.
That's a total of more than 1,100 jobs in less than a year.
It's these kind of losses Varshney says the region can no longer take. He adds that cities need to join together and form a strong marketing campaign.
"Is Sacramento competitive enough to attract jobs, and manufacturing especially, compared to other parts of Northern California, which may be competing very strongly against us?"
He says the campaign would put Sacramento on the map as an option for companies looking for access to transportation and agriculture.
