Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mrs. Governor Haley comes out of the economic development closet

As Richard Nixon said, "We are all Keynesians now."

South Carolina’s unemployment rate fell sharply in September – dropping from 9.6 percent to 9.1 percent – according to statistics from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW).  That’s the largest single-month drop since 1983, agency director Abraham Turner says.

The Palmetto State also saw a modest uptick in the size of its labor force – adding 2,500 workers in September after shedding more than 12,000 the previous month.  In August, South Carolina’s labor participation rate dipped to an all-time low of 58.3 percent.

That’s the good news …

The bad news?  With the exception of a negligible increase in manufacturing jobs last month, these employment gains were exclusively the result of public sector expansion.  Government added a whopping 15,500 positions in September – a 4.7 percent increase from the previous month.  That explosion of taxpayer-funded hiring offset private sector job losses in leisure and hospitality (-5,800),  trade, transportation and utilities (-2,500), business  and professional services (-2,100) and construction (-1,900).

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