South Carolina Jobs Report: September 2024

While the LPR is important to some extent, it is complex in its underlying factors. A reduction in the LPR from 60 to 58.2% is not a “plunge.” From 2000 to the present, SC’s percentage of retirees [i.e., people not employed- at least not full time- who have enough money to be able to be retired] has increased by 92%, and its present percentage of total population, at 18.2% is second only to Florida in the entire southeast (including Texas) and 10th in the nation. You have to take these factors into consideration when looking at LPR as an indicator of economic health. An LPR of 75+ percent would not likely be a good indicator of economic health, if coupled with figures that indicate that people are barely getting by and have very little disposable income. The better indicator of economic health would be growing household income coupled with low inflation and low household debt levels.