South Carolina ended last year with another record reading of low labor force participation – a worrying sign for an economy that has consistently lagged behind the rest of the country in this critical employment indicator.
According to the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the labor participation rate for Palmetto State was 56.3 percent in December – low 0.1 percentage points of a reviewed 56.4 percent in November.
Both readings were record low … and in the December data, South Carolina is only ahead of New Mexico, Mississippi and West Virginia in terms of the size of its workforce compared to its working-age population.
Nationally, labor participation in December held in 61.5 percent – unchanged from the previous month.
South Carolina’s struggles in the area of employment underscore the need for state legislators to approve competitive tax reform – specifically reductions in individual income tax rates, as well as reductions in more regressive taxes. Palmetto State must also take steps to diversify its battered tourist economy – and reduce the size, scope and cost of its undisciplined and irresponsible state government.
It must also (finally) begin to insist on some form of market-based responsibility for the worst school system administered by the country’s government.
These reforms are necessary in any circumstance, but they are absolutely vital, given the economic evolution we are seeing after the coronavirus pandemic – which caused the massive migration of urban centers in cities, as well as a fundamental reconfiguration of the American workplace.
For those of you who score points at home, a total of 2,340,039 South Carolinians were part of the workforce last month – a decrease in 901 from November. However, the state’s working age population increased by 4,365 people – which represented the modest decline in the participation rate.
*****
*****
As we often point out, this means of communication follows labor participation numbers much more closely than the widely observed unemployment rate – which is stupidly regurgitated by the mainstream media and its social amplifiers. Because? Because job participation data provides a much better sense of the underlying health (or lack thereof) of the state’s job economy.
Unlike the unemployment rate – which tracks only one segment of workers inside the workforce – the rate of participation in work accompanies the size of the workforce itself. This makes it a much more accurate indicator of the extent to which people have paid jobs … or not.
For those of you who track the unemployment number, it went up from 4.4 percent for 4.6 percent in December – and now has gone up 0.4 percent the past two months. A total of 107,253 workers were listed as unemployed last month – above 102,706 in November.
Once again, however, they are workers who are actively looking for jobs – and, as such, are part of the workforce.
Under the former governor Nikki Haley, labor participation in South Carolina peaked in 60.3 percent between May and September 2011 – but remained well behind the national rate (which varied between 64 percent and 64.2 percent during this period). In May 2012, the rate fell below 60 percent – and has remained below this fundamental line of demarcation ever since.
In contrast, this measure reached 68.5 percent during the early 1990s – exactly at the time when the so-called “republicans” were taking control of the state government.
Clearly, it is necessary to rethink the big government / capitalist approach to state compadron for economic development.
December 2020 marked the last full month of employment data under the administration of the former US President Donald Trump. The February 2021 reading – scheduled for mid-March to late March – will mark the first full month of employment data under the new US president Joe Biden.
Thanks to the social outages that accompanied the pandemic, unemployment soared to unprecedented levels during the spring and early summer of 2020. Altogether, 825,538 Initial unemployment claims have been filed in the state of Palmetto since mid-March last year – with claimants receiving a $ 4.92 billion in unemployment benefits.
To learn more about these numbers, click here …
*****
DECEMBER 2020 EMPLOYMENT SITUATION REPORT …
South Carolina-Situation-Employment-December-2020-
(Via: SCDEW)
-FITSNews
*****
WANT TO TURN OFF THE SOUND?
Is there anything you would like to say in response to one of our stories? We have an open mic policy! Send your own letter to the editor (or guest column) by email HERE. Do you have a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Have a technical question or failure to report? CLICK HERE.
Flag: Getty
*****
