PALMETTO STATE HAS NATION’S EIGHTH-SMALLEST WORKFORCE …
South Carolina’s labor participation rate slipped from 59.9 percent in April to 59.8 percent in May – the latest month for which data is available.
For those of you not hip to the lingo, labor participation represents the percentage of working age South Carolinians who either have a job or are actively looking for work.
During the month of May, 2.3 million Palmetto State residents fell into that category.
Obviously we’re not looking at a precipitous decline here, although it is the eighth-worst measurement in the nation. South Carolina’s participation rate also lags well behind the national mark of 62.6 percent, which itself is hovering at four-decade lows.
South Carolina’s labor participation rate under governor Nikki Haley peaked at 60.3 percent in mid-2011. It dipped below the 60 percent mark in December 2011 and has stayed there ever since, bottoming out at 58.5 (where it stood from December 2013 through April of 2014).
In addition to low labor participation, the Palmetto State is also struggling with sagging income levels and slowing economic growth – not exactly ringing endorsements of Haley’s taxpayer-funded, command economic approach to job creation.
The only thing that’s not anemic in South Carolina? Government growth …