SiliconBeat

Here’s a business decision we don’t often see: a local firm moving jobs, not AWAY, but TO the Bay Area. That’s what Omnicell announced Tuesday.

The Mountain View provider of systems for acute healthcare facilities said it will move its recently acquired mobile cart manufacturing unit from Elgin, S.C., to Livermore. The move is expected to cost $1.1 million and involve 40 employees. Going forward, the company says it expects “operational” savings from the move to be about $1.3 million a year.

We’re assuming, of course, this is a good sign. Either that, or it shows just how far our
standard of living in the Bay Area has fallen when its cheaper to run a manufacturing business here than somewhere else, not to mention Elgin, South Carolina, where the median household income in 2005 was $39,477 compared with $60,937 in Alameda County where Livermore is located.