Another sector of the population worked at the K.O. Braun bandage factory in Wolfstein. To be sure, there were several small businesses in Eßweiler from the 1950s to the 1990s, but these did not truly weigh in the balance as far as job opportunities were concerned. Given this dearth of work, more and more workers became commuters. In the mid-1960s, Opel opened a plant in Kaiserslautern, which promised jobs for workers throughout the region. This would have been welcome in Eßweiler, especially after the quarries were shut down in 1970.