Upstate Economy and Employment

[distortedlogic]

Wasn't sure what thread to put this in so I started a new general topic. To start the thread, I thought I would talk about where we are currently. Guys the upstate is not faring too well right now, even compared to the rest of the country and the rest of the state. We have had a lot of pop growth the last few years, and I know we are heavy on the manufacturing sector but we are really taking some hits right now. These two links were in the state forum, but I thought they are very relevant for this thread.

Metro Monitor maps and description of the health of the largest 100 metros in the nation. Gville is ranked lower in most catagories than Cola or Chas and many of our other peers. Not good news for us.

GSA article on the upstate unemployment figures with Gville at 12.1%!

Here's the rest of the upstate: County May 2009 April 2009

Greenville 10.2% 9.4%

Spartanburg 12.3% 11.5%

Anderson 12.5% 11.5%

Pickens 10.2% 9.5%

Laurens 11.4% 10.7%

Abbeville 15.1% 14.3%

Oconee 14.5% 13.9%

Greenwood 14.0% 13.5%

Thoughts? What can we do as a metro to turn things around? I remember back in 1998 or 99 when the unemplyment rate in Gville county was 0.8%. Boy how things have changed!

[gs3]

Wasn't sure what thread to put this in so I started a new general topic. To start the thread, I thought I would talk about where we are currently. Guys the upstate is not faring too well right now, even compared to the rest of the country and the rest of the state. We have had a lot of pop growth the last few years, and I know we are heavy on the manufacturing sector but we are really taking some hits right now. These two links were in the state forum, but I thought they are very relevant for this thread.

Metro Monitor maps and description of the health of the largest 100 metros in the nation. Gville is ranked lower in most catagories than Cola or Chas and many of our other peers. Not good news for us.

GSA article on the upstate unemployment figures with Gville at 12.1%!

Here's the rest of the upstate: County May 2009 April 2009

Greenville 10.2% 9.4%

Spartanburg 12.3% 11.5%

Anderson 12.5% 11.5%

Pickens 10.2% 9.5%

Laurens 11.4% 10.7%

Abbeville 15.1% 14.3%

Oconee 14.5% 13.9%

Greenwood 14.0% 13.5%

Thoughts? What can we do as a metro to turn things around? I remember back in 1998 or 99 when the unemplyment rate in Gville county was 0.8%. Boy how things have changed!

[beyonce245]

Ummmm.....considering the national unemployment rate is 9.4 and states like California have 11.5 unemployment and Rhode Island 12.1 unemployment......even NYC is almost at 9 percent........maybe we should hold the current presidential administration to the promise of adding / keeping 3 million jobs nationally. Every state / region / metro is shedding jobs. We are better than some and worse than some. Look at Washington, DC....the nations capital....10.7 percent. The job loss is hardly unique to our metro.

This is a national crisis, not a regional or metro crisis. With an already floundering economy at the end of the Bush presidency, Obama seems to have pushed down on the gas pedal and accelerated the downward spiral. Until true leadership is elected in Washington, we are in a pickle guys.

Interesting article with numbers from around the country.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/1...nationwide-may/

[vicupstate]

Unemployment is the LAST thing to turn around in a recovery. These figures have been predicted for months. Due to poor leadership at the state level we are getting it worse than a lot of areas. We have not filled the void from the decline of manufacturing.

To put the blame on Obama is ridiculous. The stock market which was in freefall just a few months ago, it has leveled off and has risen very significantly since then. Anyone that knows economics at all knows it will be a few months yet before a turn around in unemployment can be expected.

[distortedlogic]

So which sectors should we expect to see start hiring again first? Retail? Health? Construction? I realize that this is a national issue, but the GSA combined metro is doing significantly worse than that national average of 9.4%. Even Gville county, which we often pride on having low unemployment is above that average, yet other upstate counties are now at 14 and 15%. And as pointed out, it may well go significantly higher before it gets better. Could we see upstate counties approaching 20% unemployment? That is a huge number!

[gman430]

Ummmm.....considering the national unemployment rate is 9.4 and states like California have 11.5 unemployment and Rhode Island 12.1 unemployment......even NYC is almost at 9 percent........maybe we should hold the current presidential administration to the promise of adding / keeping 3 million jobs nationally. Every state / region / metro is shedding jobs. We are better than some and worse than some. Look at Washington, DC....the nations capital....10.7 percent. The job loss is hardly unique to our metro.

This is a national crisis, not a regional or metro crisis. With an already floundering economy at the end of the Bush presidency, Obama seems to have pushed down on the gas pedal and accelerated the downward spiral. Until true leadership is elected in Washington, we are in a pickle guys.

[distortedlogic]

Gville News article mentions that the county's unemployment rate rose again in June to 10.7% while the state remained at 12.1%. Not good news, that is a lot of people out of work.

[distortedlogic]

The good news is that today's Job Fair at Haywood Mall sought to fill over 2,600 positions (Gville News). The not so good news is that over 14,000 showed up to apply! Too many people without work! It is certainly crazy out there right now.

[distortedlogic]

According to GSA, Fuji to add 185 jobs in Greenwood. They will set up a digital processing center. Nearly 200 jobs is certainly good news for the upstate!