South Carolina’s unemployment rate fell from 7.9 to 7.5 percent in October – its lowest level since September 2008.
That’s great news for the Palmetto State’s economy, right?
Eh … not so much. Here’s the fundamental problem: South Carolina’s declining unemployment rate is being driven by a shrinking labor force. In fact the state’s current labor participation rate of 58.2 percent represents an all-time low – which alos happens to be well below the national rate of 62.8 percent (which itself is at a thirty-five year low).
For those of you unfamiliar with the metric, the labor participation rate tracks the number of working-age citizens who are either employed or actively seeking work. In South Carolina this number peaked (under Haley, anyway) at 60.9 percent back in June 2011 – but has been falling ever since.
Not following this critical statistic? It’s not your fault. The mainstream media in South Carolina simply doesn’t report on it …
Anyway, the latest unemployment report reveals “the number of unemployed persons was 162,613, falling approximately 7,457, while those employed increased 3,465 to a level of 1,994,349. The labor force fell 3,992 to 2,156,962.”
Leading the “job growth” from September to October?
Take a wild guess … it was “government,” with 5,500 new positions.
Nonetheless, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley responded to the numbers by saying “it is a great day in South Carolina.”
“We’re just getting started – and nowhere in the country will there be a bigger push to put people back to work and keep driving the unemployment number down than what will keep happening in South Carolina,” Haley added.
So more government growth? You betcha …
9 comments
GAWD. That’s such BS. Over 50% of the population without employment. What a Crock.
The rate, not the article.
“In fact the state’s current labor participation rate of 58.2 percent represents an all-time low – ”
I’m pretty sure most women didn’t work from like 1600 to the 1970s, so I doubt this is an all time low.
Jackie, they had near 0 or below unemployment. That’s a HUGE part of why they called this the land of milk and honey. Until the late 1800’s early 1900’s this country absorbed humans like hair to oil, butter to capsaicin. Everyone worked. There were more jobs than you could shake a stick at.
But your statement is flawed. Actually they did. They tended to be entrepreneurs as opposed employee’s.
Further, until the late 20’s many many many were subsistence farmers. They also were entrepreneurs. They just worked for a smaller customer base.
“Not following this critical statistic? It’s not your fault.”
In this day, where EVERY word out of the Gubmint & LSM mouths is a GD LIE, if you don’t know this stuff it is your fault. Further, it’s those peoples fault, along with the capitalist criers and deniers.
What amazes me is how Haley can claim victory here and there when she’s done pretty much jack shit to improve things in this state. She refuses to make significant cuts in the budget, she hasn’t really altered taxes at all, no major pursuit of legislation that would improve our business climate, has done worse than the status quo regarding our ports, and she’s doing an extremely lousy job of attracting businesses here. What else is there? Have I missed something?
Usually, you can look up what a governor has done or supported and find a load of different changes that they’ve tried to pursue. Even if you agree or disagree with what they’ve done, you can usually acknowledge that yes, they have tried to get through significant changes or given significant effort. Other than getting some 4,000 jobs promise from Walmart that isn’t worth crap and going on various trips with little to show for them, what else has she done to help generate jobs?
The last sentence in this article that quotes Haley is very Palinesque. I’m no English teacher, but the syntax is truly awful and embarrassing.
When we look at the trend of the “labor participation rate” both for SC and the US, we see that both are trending down, which means we have less people looking for jobs.
SC rates are; Oct-58.2%, Sept-58.4%, Aug-58.4%, Jul-58.5% for an average of 58.4% or a declining range of 3 basis points.
US rates are; Oct-62.8%, Sept-63.2%, Aug-63.2%, Jul-63.4%% for an average of 63.2% or a declining range of 6 basis points.
For the months of Aug and Sept ,both SC and US rates remain unchanged.
The challenge is to create a business friendly environment where businesses would invest their capital resulting in job creation.
A diversified economy will help in insulating our state from the swings that are part of a free market base economy.
It will truly be a great day when Haley is out of office.
NIKKI HALEY ONLY CARES ABOUT NIKKI HALEY!