Ashley Furniture HomeStore in California will close two plants in Colton and lay off 840 workers. The work and jobs will be shipped to facilities in Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Under the quote that the move would “create more efficiency,” 840 families will be severely impacted and many will find themselves in the unemployment line.

Over the past decade, California continues to hemorrhage manufacturing jobs, as community activists and the California legislative body in Sacramento pushed for a $15 minimum wage and additional paperwork and requirements for all employers.

It comes down to simple economics, when the cost of doing business goes up, yet competition in the furniture industry remains fierce, the company is going to cut costs and find a place where it can be made at a lower price. And with it go the jobs.

For those businesses that can’t get up and go, like our fast-food industry, they will just automate. They are going to develop more self-service kiosks for ordering and paying for food.

There is a lot to be said about increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but so it having a job, just ask the 840 former Ashley Furniture employees.

The Los Angeles Times also have a write-up on this issue