South Carolina's skyrocketing unemployment rate is soaking up all the headlines today, but buried beneath that big 10.4% number is an even bigger problem - all the money our state keeps borrowing from the federal government to pay for unemployment benefits. In fact, assuming the current rate of $20
Read story »sc unemployment
Ready The Hoovervilles: SC Unemployment At 10.4%
South Carolina's unemployment rate soared to 10.4% for the month of January - up nearly a full percentage point from last December and the highest rate on record in the state since April 1983. That figure would also put South Carolina's rate at the second highest in the nation, behind only Michigan. It's
Read story »14%?
Could South Carolina's unemployment rate hit 14% this summer? That's the prediction coming from the S.C. Board of Economic Advisors, which once again pared back state revenue estimates earlier this week. The jobless rate for January - according to the BEA -is 10.5%, but the state Employment Security
Read story »SC Unemployment Soars To 9.5%
South Carolina's unemployment rate can fly higher than an eagle, people. In fact, at 9.5% in December, it may soon find itself in a position to challenge its longtime nemesis, the state's employment rate. No seriously, all we have to do to give it a fighting chance is keep the knucklehead former
Read story »Sanford Blinks … Sort Of
At the last moment, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford backed off of a threat to forgo requesting nearly $150 million in federal unemployment benefits for an estimated 70,000 unemployed South Carolina workers. Or did he? While one threat was effectively rescinded, another was made. Specifically, Sanford
Read story »UPDATED – Sanford Standing Firm In Unemployment Flap
S.C. Governor Mark Sanford is standing firm on his threat to forgo a routine request for federal unemployment funds until his state's Employment Security Commission shapes up its act. While we disagree with the governor's methods in this case (and have stated so previously), you have to admire the
Read story »Employment Insecurity
Like most government agencies in this ass backward state, the S.C. Employment Security Commission is by all accounts a joke - a wasteful, inefficient bureaucracy that produces inconsistent data and frighteningly simplistic analysis of the data it produces. Plus it doesn't share information with the
Read story »Eight Friggin’ Percent
We rely on our "Magic 8-Ball" a lot around here ... in fact, it's pretty much in charge of everything, from deciding which politicians we're going to fillet on a given day to what toppings we're going to put on our pizza. Pepperoni? "Reply Hazy, Try Again." Sausage? "It Is Decidedly So." Banana
Read story »SC Unemployment Is Rocking Out ..
... WITH ITS "YOU KNOW WHAT" OUT FITSNews - August 15, 2008 - When it comes to kicking ass and taking names, South Carolina's unemployment rate might as well be Chuck Norris. Seriously, people, it's rocking out with its "Shamma-Lamma-Ding-Dong" out ... Unemployment in South Carolina soared
Read story »Welcome To South Carolina
SC HOTLINE: BOBTAILED BILL WOULD WORSEN AN ALREADY ABYSMAL BUSINESS CLIMATE FITSNews - June 23, 2008 - As if South Carolina's rising unemployment rate and anemic personal income growth weren't sufficient anchors to creating prosperity for our citizens, our state's business climate could suffer yet
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