South Carolina’s initial unemployment insurance claims declined again during the week ending January 30, 2021 – but remained more than twice as high as before the coronavirus pandemic started last March.
And, as we reported last week, the most recent job data for the state of Palmetto was not good … with labor participation falling to a new record low.
According to the latest data from the SC Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW), a total of 4,665 South Carolinians filed an initial unemployment claim during the week ending January 30. This is the lowest weekly number since the last full week of 2020 – but it is more than double the 2,093 claims submitted during the week ending March 14, 2020.
That was the last week before the government shutdowns associated with Covid-19 effectively closed the country’s economy.
Claims for unemployment benefits reached levels never seen before, as the strikes affected the economy. The worst of the damage was done during the week ending April 11, 2020 – when a record 87,686 initial claims have been filed. During the first ten weeks of Covid-19 blocks – from March 14 to May 23, 2020 – average initial complaints 54,054 per week.
The claims finally fell below the 10,000 threshold last July – and were starting to approach pre-pandemic levels in late November.
However, an increase in complaints followed the 2020 holiday season … increasing complaints.
Since the start of Covid-19, a total of 835,246 claims were made in Palmetto State – or one claim for every three members of the workforce.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: SCDEW)
More ominously, the overall number of Southern Carolinians receiving benefits continued to rise last week. According to SCDEW, 129,267 applicants were paid between 24 and 30 january – almost double what they received unemployment insurance a month ago.
Driving these increases? Former US President Donald TrumpThe decision to sign a second Covid-19 “stimulus” package in late December that included $ 120 billion expanding federal unemployment benefits. New US President Joe Biden included another extension of these benefits in its proposed “stimulus” plan – although the best economic forecasts have raised doubts about the effectiveness of Biden’s proposal.
Since March 15, 2020 a surprising $ 5.13 billion in unemployment benefits were paid in South Carolina – including $ 1.1 billion state unemployment insurance (SD) fund.
The replenishment of that fund will eventually fall on the backs of small South Carolina businesses – including those that were forced to fire employees during the impact of the pandemic last year.
How do we know that? Because that’s exactly what happened during the last slowdown …
During the recovery from the 2008-2009 recession, companies that were forced to lay off workers during the worst of the recession bore the brunt of the burden associated with replenishing the SD fund – severely reducing state recovery efforts in the process.
It can’t happen again …
More importantly, South Carolina lawmakers cannot continue to sustain an anti-competitive tax climate – or indulge in the addiction of a large government – if the economy is expected to recover.
Instead, they must strategically rethink the many areas in which the South Carolina tax code is preventing their people.
This news outlet has previously written about how South Carolina leaders needed to cut the state’s extremely high income and sales tax rates to be competitive in the new economy – where individual taxpayers and small businesses are the primary targets, not large corporations.
The State of Palmetto clearly cannot afford to continue its crony capitalist approach to “economic development”, which has done nothing but enrich billionaires at the expense of small businesses.
Nor can it continue to expand ineffective bureaucracies forever …
-FITSNews
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