|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As South Carolina leaders bickered and argued about modest tax shift proposals, the Palmetto State’s employment situation continued to deteriorate.
According to the latest data (.pdf) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), South Carolina’s labor participation rate – seasonally adjusted – held at an atrociously low 57.5% during the month of April. That’s just 0.2% higher than it all-time nadir of 57.3% set between August and October of 2022.
Including last month’s number, that’s the lowest this key indicator has been since December 2022.
Nationally, labor participation rose for the second consecutive month – climbing 0.1% to reach 62.6%. As it has for years, South Carolina trailed the national average by a sizable gap (-5.1%) and ranked ahead of only a handful of states. In fact, only Mississippi (56.2%) West Virginia (54.3%) fared worse last month than the Palmetto State.
For those among you who are visually inclined, our intrepidly amazing (amazingly intrepid?) research director Jenn Wood has you covered…
***
***
Newcomers to FITSNews should know we focus intently on labor participation because we believe it to be the most accurate indicator of a state’s true employment health. Labor participation tracks the percentage of a state’s population that is either gainfully employed or actively searching for work. Unlike the widely watched unemployment rate – which tracks a segment of workers within the labor force – labor participation tracks the size of the workforce itself. That makes it a much better indicator of sustained job creation – or in South Carolina’s case, the lack thereof.
For those of you who track the conventional unemployment rate – the one politicians and their media mouthpieces focus on – it ticked up 0.1% to 4.2% last month.
Despite South Carolina’s recent labor participation slippage, state workforce bureaucrats insisted all of its major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) were in good shape.
***
“South Carolina’s labor market heading into the summer remains strong across most industries and major metropolitan areas,” said William Floyd, executive director of the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW). “All MSAs in the state have experienced positive employment growth over the past month, as well as over the past year.”
SCDEW has been full of excuses for the Palmetto State’s historic underperformance on this vital employment metric. In December 2022 – the last time the rate was this low – it commissioned a report purporting to explain away the issue. The alleged culprit? An aging population.
“Between 1994 and 2019, the share of our state’s population age 65 or older nearly doubled,” agency economist Erica Von Nessen stated. “This fact alone explains most of the decline in South Carolina’s labor force participation rate in that time.”
If only that were accurate…
As FITSNews has repeatedly noted, all but one of the twelve states with larger senior populations than South Carolina also have higher labor participation rates – making mincemeat of this argument.
***
RELATED | INFLATION SLIDES TO LOWEST LEVEL IN FOUR YEARS
***
Labor participation in South Carolina began falling from its peak of 68.5% right around the time the GOP takeover of state government began in the mid-1990s. It has not eclipsed the key 60% demarcation line since May 2012, former governor Nikki Haley’s second full year in office. By the time Haley left office in January 2017, it had dipped all the way to 58.2%.
So much for Haley branding herself America’s “Jobs Governor,” right?
Why does this key employment indicator keep sliding in South Carolina? Because “Republicans” have grown government in the Palmetto State faster than Democrats dared to dream back when they ran the show. Rather than invest in individual income earners and small businesses, South Carolina leaders have mindlessly ballooned bureaucracies and wildly embraced crony capitalism – approaches which have chronically failed to create jobs and raise income levels.
Just this week, state bean counters identified an extra $1 billion in surplus revenue for the coming fiscal year (which begins on July 1, 2025). What percentage of that new money will be returned to citizens and small businesses?
If history is any indicator, none of it…
Unlike the status quo apologists in the mainstream media, count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised of the economic data that matters… and to hold Palmetto political leaders accountable for how their votes either advance or impede real economic progress.
***
THE DATA…
(BLS)
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
