July Saw Factory Closures and Layoffs, Layoffs, and More Layoffs

DES MOINES, IA – In the month of July alone, over 520 Iowans have been laid off as several factories and employers closed shop in communities across Iowa. ABC 6 News reports Fox River Mills, a 125-year old sock manufacturing facility which employs over 200 people in Osage, Iowa, is the latest to announce they will be closing their doors later this year.

Throughout this month alone, several other Iowa companies have announced closures and layoffs, including:

Lennox in Marshalltown, which will be laying off a total of 69 employees effective August 1.
FedEx in Marshalltown, which will be laying off 84 employees effective September 1.
Winnebago, which will be laying off 121 employees across its facilities between now and December of this year.
TreeHouse Foods in New Hampton is closing its doors, laying off 48 employees effective September 12.

“It seems like every day we’re seeing a new headline about more layoffs or another factory closing somewhere in Iowa, and our current leaders are doing nothing to stop it,” said candidate for governor Rob Sand. “Workers are being left without a job or ways to provide for their families, businesses are being driven across state lines, and we’re losing our next generation of Iowa workers because our leaders aren’t making Iowa a place people want to live and companies want to plant their roots. As governor, I’ll get to work on day one solving some of our state’s toughest challenges – not stoking division and culture wars.”

These layoffs and closures are just the latest in a series of bad rankings and economic outlooks Iowa has landed in recently:

The Trump administration’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that Iowa’s real GDP shrank by 6.1 percent in the first quarter, the worst rate in the nation.
Earlier this month, a new report found Iowa’s unemployment rate has continued to rise, landing at 3.7 percent – up from 3 percent the same time last year.
The Trump administration also ranks Iowa’s economy 49th overall, second worst in the country, and 48th for personal income growth.
A new report from WalletHub named Iowa’s economy the worst in the nation based on “economic activity, economic health, and innovation potential.”
New data showed Iowa ranks 44th in the nation for hourly wages and dead last among Midwestern states.

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