Hoskinson Contracting and Hoskinson Concrete gave walking papers to a combined 123 employees this week, and an official with one firm said the concrete company will close permanently.
The number of workers laid off is significant, according to state officials, and beyond normal seasonal fluctuations in the construction industry.
Both companies are based in Gillette and founded by Charles Hoskinson, CEO and founder of Input Output Group. He also founded the new Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic on the south side of town.
The construction and concrete companies were created to support the clinic, Hoskinson Contracting CEO Chris Davis said in a press statement.
“The large-scale construction needs that led the clinic to create an in-house construction company have come to an end,” Davis said. “As a result, Hoskinson Contracting is scaling back its operations, and the Hoskinson Concrete division is being closed.”
Every laid off employee will remain on payroll through January, according to a company spokesperson. Hoskinson Contracting employed more than 260 workers, according to its website on Friday morning.
Gov. Mark Gordon, in a statement Friday, described the situation as “one of the most significant layoffs Wyoming has ever seen.”
“This is tough news for more than [100] Wyoming workers who showed up, put their skills to work, and who now face job loss,” Gordon said. “I am deeply concerned for the hard-working individuals and families who now face uncertainty, especially during the holiday season.”
Wyoming Workforce Services has organized resources to reach out to affected employees and connect them to other employers in the region, as well as workforce training opportunities.
“We have offered to do a virtual event and to do something at our [Gillette] location,” Administrator of Workforce Programs Holly Simoni told WyoFile. “We’re trying to get specific contact information on these employees so that we can reach out to them and offer our services.”
Affected workers are encouraged to reach out to the Gillette Workforce Center, Simoni said. Job Seekers can look for employment and register at the HireWyo website.
Neither Gillette nor Campbell County elected officials were notified of the layoffs, according to WyoFile inquiries. Reached for comment Friday, Campbell County Commission Chair Kelley McCreery said he was unaware of the layoffs.
“I do know [the companies] expanded really, really fast,” he said.
The county awarded Hoskinson Contracting a job earlier this year to install a boiler at the Northeast Regional Airport outside Gillette, according to McCreery, but the company asked to get out of the contract.
“They came back to us later and said, ‘We have lost some supervisors and we’re spread too thin, and we’d like to get out of the deal.’ So we let them out,” McCreery said.
Hoskinson Contracting will “work in a more limited capacity” going forward, according to Davis. “It will concentrate on maintaining existing Hoskinson properties and overseeing future construction projects, which it will bid out to local Wyoming contractors.”
Have we made America Great yet, because somehow, I am not seeing it.
Only in Wyoming would a concrete company pinkslipping 125 workers be 3-alarm news, causing the state’s Governor to bawl thru his megaphone “This is one of the most significant layoffs Wyoming has ever seen.” ( quoted). Anywhere else it’s just called ‘ doing business’.
Wyoming needs to calibrate its economic oculars to proper scale. That 125 number of jobs lost in Gillette is roughly the same as the high-low seasonal difference of employment at my Cody Wal-mart store. Make your own case. Pardon me for not having much faith in Wyoming Workforce Development to re-train suddenly jobless workers for fresh employment in anything more skilled than herding, haying , and hamburger tossing.
Dustin my name is David and I’m a former employee of Hoskinson Contracting and there is more to your article then what you know place reach out to me when you get a opportunity
These job losses are tragic for the folks, families, and even the town. One recalls the aphorism: a recession is when your neighbor losses their job; a depression is when you lose your job. Yet, it could be far worse. Glance at Lexington, NE. My late grandfather’s hometown of 11,000 lost 3,200 jobs when the Tyson packing plant closed this winter. Lexington’s businesses, real estate values may never recover and if they do recover it’ll take decades. These episodes may not be related. They maybe coincidental. Though it’s highly likely that many readers here voted for this rural American economy, increased taxes (tariffs), increased cost of living, and corporate consolidations. Coincidence or causation? Time will tell.
Thank god he didn’t pay them with cardano or had cardano profit sharing, ya grifter.
That was my first thought — this has gotta be the same Hoskinson right? If so, that seems like important context for this story!