Tag: Job Creation

“Creating Jobs” Isn’t the Point

 THE CREATION OF VALUE IS Although the role of government would appear to be a controversial topic in the political sphere, there’s one role commentators on both the left and the right seem to agree on: Government should provide jobs. It’s hard to avoid political rhetoric underpinned by the assumption that government should create jobs, …

What’s South Carolina’s Biggest Employer?

 IT’S NOT WHAT POLITICIANS TELL YOU What industry would you guess is the biggest employer in South Carolina? Listening to State House politicians, you might think the answer is one company, Boeing. Or you might think tourism is the number one employer in the state. In reality, government is the single largest employer in South …

Total Employment Falls, Local Government Hiring Continues to Grow

Last week, we demonstrated that South Carolina’s improved employment picture hasn’t really improved much at all. Rather, government hiring and a shrinking labor force are making the job numbers look better than they are. Our analysis looked at government hiring from January to May 2010. The numbers for June—which account for the elimination of thousands …

Government Hiring Masks Real Unemployment Picture

South Carolina’s unemployment rate has long been among the worst in the country, hitting a high of 12.5 percent in January 2010. As of June 2010 (latest data available), the unemployment rate had fallen to 10.7 percent. During the same period, South Carolina has gone from having the 4th worst employment rate in the nation to the 7th worst. Currently, the state is one of thirteen suffering from double-digit unemployment. Worse still is that even this marginal improvement in employment is misleading. In fact, government hiring accounts for much of the new hiring, suggesting a private-sector recovery is still a long way off.

The Best & Worst to Come: A Review of Independent Business Legislation for 2009-2010

As we review the best and worst independent business legislation of 2009,it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session.   Independent businesses are the backbone of South Carolina’s economy and the key to increasing wealth and creating private sector jobs. According to the Small Business Administration, …