FOLSOM — Silicon Valley’s Intel announced new layoffs will begin from its Folsom campus in November.
Folsom, just east of Sacramento, is one of California’s fastest growing cities, and technology jobs are a big reason why.
The city’s largest employer is shrinking amid a growing population, with Intel announcing 272 job cuts starting next month.
Sanjay Varshney, a finance professor at Sacramento State University, sees the tech company’s exit as troubling for Folsom despite its growth.
“It’s huge,” Varshney said. “Still, what we’re looking at is not just anchoring Folsom, but anchoring technology companies in the greater Sacramento area.”
Varshney said the technology companies that serve as anchors for the area have also “changed the political structure” of Folsom.
Remote work brought an influx of immigrants from the San Francisco Bay Area, and Folsom’s political demographics quickly changed from red to blue.
In 2020, the city had 16,000 registered Democrats and 17,000 Republicans. Folsom suddenly had 17,000 registered Republicans compared to 18,000 registered Democrats.
Varshney said the opposite could happen.
“So we’re seeing a shift again in terms of the pendulum swinging, for example with these layoffs and technology employees being asked to come back to the office more days of the week,” he said. .
Inter’s layoffs are scheduled to take effect on November 15th.
