WARN Act Layoffs in Richmond, Indiana

Analysis: Layoffs in Richmond, Indiana

# Richmond, Indiana: A Layoff Analysis

Overview: Scale and Economic Significance

Richmond, Indiana has experienced substantial workforce disruption over the past two decades, with 13 WARN notices displacing 1,229 workers since 2008. This represents a significant labor market shock for a city of roughly 35,000 residents, meaning approximately 3.5 percent of the total population has been directly affected by mass layoff events tracked through federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings. The concentration of these displacements among a relatively small number of major employers underscores Richmond's vulnerability to single-company workforce decisions and highlights the city's economic dependence on a narrow manufacturing and industrial base.

The 1,229 affected workers represent real people withdrawing from the local labor market, reducing consumer spending capacity, and creating concentrated demand for retraining services and unemployment benefits. In a city the size of Richmond, such displacement events ripple through local schools, retail establishments, and municipal tax bases in measurable ways. The fact that these 13 notices span 17 years suggests that Richmond has not experienced a single catastrophic year, but rather persistent, episodic labor market stress—a pattern distinct from communities that endure sudden, concentrated collapses.

Dominant Employers: Manufacturing Concentration and Scale

Four companies account for approximately 813 workers, or 66 percent of all WARN-notice displacements in Richmond. Cinram Inc leads with a single notice displacing 330 workers, representing the largest individual event in the dataset. MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc follows with 275 workers affected across one notice filing. Matthews International Corporation filed twice—once displacing 122 workers and again with a revised notice affecting zero additional workers—suggesting either a corrected projection or a partial reversal of the original plan. TBK America Inc displaced 86 workers in one event.

These four firms operate in capital-intensive, process-driven manufacturing sectors. Cinram Inc, a Toronto-based company specializing in CD and DVD replication and data storage solutions, exemplifies how technological disruption and shifting consumer behavior devastated manufacturing communities nationwide. The 330-worker displacement represents a plant closure or near-total operational shutdown in Richmond, likely reflecting the company's contraction as digital streaming rendered physical media manufacturing obsolete. This was not a efficiency-driven reduction but rather a response to structural market collapse.

MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc, a major player in kitchen and bath cabinetry, experienced workforce reduction tied to fluctuations in residential construction and home improvement spending. Cabinet manufacturing is highly sensitive to housing starts, mortgage rates, and consumer confidence, making it inherently cyclical. The 275-worker displacement suggests either a facility closure or a dramatic consolidation, potentially reflecting the company's response to competitive pressures or production shifting to lower-cost regions.

Matthews International Corporation, a Pennsylvania-based company operating in casket manufacturing, packaging, and imaging technology, filed two WARN notices suggesting initial projections required adjustment. The revised notice filing with zero additional workers affected indicates either partial recall of workers or modification of the original layoff plan. Casket manufacturing, like other commodity-driven industries, responds to demographic trends and competitive consolidation within the funeral services industry.

These dominant employers reveal Richmond's manufacturing heritage but also demonstrate how vulnerable that heritage has become. No employer in the dataset appears twice (excepting Matthews' revised filing), indicating that Richmond has not experienced repeat layoffs from the same company—a distinction that suggests complete facility closure rather than ongoing operational contraction.

Industry Patterns and Structural Forces

The WARN data identifies only one filing under the Accommodation and Food Services sector (Sodexo's 65-worker displacement), leaving 1,164 workers, or approximately 95 percent of all displacements, in manufacturing-related industries. This overwhelming concentration in manufacturing reflects Richmond's historical economic base but also its vulnerability to global economic forces beyond local control.

Manufacturing sectors represented in the layoff data—from specialized materials handling (Cinram) to cabinetry (MasterBrand) to plastic components (Engineered Plastic Components Inc.) to acoustics materials (Janesville Acoustics)—share common structural vulnerabilities. Each faces either technological obsolescence (media manufacturing), geographical wage competition (cabinetry, plastics), or consolidation pressures (funeral services, building materials). None operate in high-growth or emerging sectors capable of absorbing displaced workers at comparable wage levels.

General Aluminum and Engineered Plastic Components Inc. (operating as Innatech LLC) represent suppliers to larger manufacturing ecosystems that have themselves faced global competition. Secondary manufacturers—companies supplying components to larger producers—often experience amplified employment swings as tier-one manufacturers adjust capacity. Janesville Acoustics, which filed three notices (two revised), suggests that initial workforce reduction projections required downward revision, potentially indicating partial operational continuity despite significant layoffs. The acoustic insulation sector serves automotive and construction industries, both cyclical and increasingly subject to automation and offshoring.

The presence of Community Development Institute Head Start among the layoff notices is instructive: even government-funded social services faced workforce reduction, suggesting that broader economic contraction created revenue pressures extending beyond pure manufacturing. Palladium-Item, a local newspaper filing a 60-worker notice, exemplifies the structural collapse of print journalism in the digital age—a sector-wide phenomenon that affected thousands of local publications across the country.

Historical Trends: Episodic Decline Rather Than Recovery

Richmond's layoff timeline reveals no clear upward or downward trajectory but rather episodic stress. The earliest WARN notices appeared in 2008-2009 (four notices displacing an unspecified but substantial number of workers), coinciding with the financial crisis and recession. A five-year gap (2010-2014) without notices does not necessarily indicate economic health—it may reflect stabilization at reduced employment levels after initial shocks. Subsequent filings in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024, and 2025 indicate that Richmond never fully recovered, but instead experienced ongoing, dispersed contractions affecting different employers in sequence.

The 2024 and 2025 notices are particularly significant because they occurred after more than a decade of national economic recovery and labor market strength. The fact that Richmond filed a notice in 2025 suggests that even in a relatively tight national labor market, local structural problems persist. This pattern indicates that Richmond's workforce challenges are not merely cyclical—temporary consequences of recession that fade during expansions—but structural, reflecting permanent changes in manufacturing demand, technology, and competition.

Local Economic Impact: Community Scale and Consequences

For Richmond, a city with an estimated labor force of approximately 16,000 workers (based on typical workforce participation rates), the 1,229 displaced workers represent cumulative disruption affecting roughly 7.7 percent of the working population. When distributed across 17 years, this translates to an average of 72 workers per year, or about 0.45 percent annual displacement—a rate that compounds over time through lost skills, out-migration, and reduced earning capacity.

The local multiplier effects are substantial. A manufacturing worker earning $18-24 per hour (typical for the sectors represented) spends approximately 70-75 percent of income locally—on housing, groceries, childcare, and services. A 1,229-worker displacement reduces annual local consumer spending by approximately $15-20 million, assuming 60-week average notice periods before separation. This spending reduction cascades through retail establishments, schools dependent on tax revenue, and municipal services.

Richmond's unemployment has likely experienced significant spikes following major notices. The Cinram displacement of 330 workers alone would increase the city's unemployment rate by roughly 2 percentage points (depending on workforce size calculations), creating acute pressure on retraining programs and social services. The concentration of these events among older industrial workers with limited transferable skills increases the likelihood of permanent workforce exit through early retirement or out-migration, shrinking Richmond's tax base further.

The Palladium-Item layoff of 60 workers is particularly significant symbolically: the loss of local news capacity reduces the community's ability to organize around economic development initiatives, civic engagement, and accountability journalism. Manufacturing communities dependent on legacy industries require strong local institutions and communication channels to facilitate economic transition; the collapse of local media undermines exactly those capacities.

Regional Context and Comparative Position

Indiana's economy relies substantially on manufacturing, particularly automotive supply, industrial equipment, and chemical processing. Richmond's layoff pattern reflects state-level trends: Indiana has lost substantial manufacturing capacity since 2008, with automotive-related employment particularly volatile. However, Indianapolis and other larger Indiana metros have benefited from healthcare, finance, and technology sector growth that has partially offset manufacturing losses. Richmond, lacking these diversified sectors, has experienced manufacturing decline without offsetting growth in other industries.

The state's northwest region (near Chicago) and central corridor (Indianapolis-Muncie) have attracted logistics, distribution, and technology investment. Richmond, in east-central Indiana near the Ohio border, lacks the geographic positioning for logistics clusters and has not attracted significant technology or service sector investment to counter manufacturing erosion. This positioning vulnerability explains why Richmond's WARN notices have continued through recovery periods: the city lacks the structural economic diversity to absorb manufacturing workers displaced elsewhere.

Compared to similar-sized Indiana manufacturing communities, Richmond's WARN notice frequency appears typical but concerning. Communities like Kokomo (heavily dependent on automotive supply) have experienced more dramatic single-event displacements, while some smaller towns have avoided major notices. Richmond's pattern—consistent, moderate-scale, multi-sector decline—suggests a community managing ongoing structural adjustment without acute crisis events, but also without evidence of successful economic diversification or reinvention.