SC Unemployment Rate Down Slightly

South Carolina’s unemployment rate edged down to 8.6 percent in February from 8.7 percent in January, data from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW) revealed.

Pacing the decline? A whopping 8,000 new government jobs – as well as 3,800 new positions in “education and health services,” a sector of the economy which is driven almost exclusively by government spending. Obviously this isn’t the first time a reduction in the state unemployment rate has been achieved on the backs of the taxpayers – and we suspect it won’t be the last.

“The Palmetto State needs to be growing jobs – not purchasing them with tax dollars,” we wrote last year.

The more things change, huh?

Sadly, none of this is surprising when you consider South Carolina’s “Republican-controlled” General Assembly has grown government by more than $3 billion over the last two years – with S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley approving more than 99 percent of that new spending. A lot of that cash has been spent on “economic development” incentives, which raise the tax burden on existing business – and don’t always pay off.

Nationally, the unemployment rate dipped from 7.9 to 7.7 percent in February – although the nation’s labor participation rate dipped to 65.3 percent, a three-decade low.

FEBRUARY 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT REPORT (.pdf)

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