Greenville, SC vs Columbia, SC vs Charleston, SC (North Charleston, Rock Hill: sales, home sales)
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You do what you got to do but it is simply unbelievable that more jobs in any SC city than prior to the economic collapse. At least as far as good jobs go.
I used to filter by state when I did job searches on Indeed and elsewhere prior to 2008, now I just search nationwide. LOL
As unbelievable as it seems to you, the data shows that there are about 10,000 more people with jobs in Charleston now than there was in 2007/2008. That's directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Look at the graph titled Employment. There are more employed people in Charleston SC now than there ever has been by a wide margin:
According to this chart Columbia has slightly more employed now than before the recession. It had more jobs than the other two to begin with. The important thing is that each of the state's main three cities and their metros are headed in the right direction.
The governor's office called me today to say the governor appreciates the concern I expressed in a recent email. She responded by snail mail to my two prior emails on different topics. Could the call mean she might really look into doing something about my concern? Or could it mean she realized she was spending postage money on me when I have a local phone number?
The concern I expressed was the money being wasted on leases, electricity, water, etc., to staff offices in cities for no reason other than to keep the jobs in those cities, when everything the agency does could be handled from the capital as in other states, depending on the agency, of course. Some agencies do need physical presences across the state. Others, though, conduct all business by phone and have no occasion that requires they meet with the public face-to-face.
Back in the day, somebody would just scratch somebody else's back in many instances just to get some state jobs in their neck of the woods. That practice led to a lot of decentralization from the state capital for many functions that don't require a physical presence.
According to this chart Columbia has slightly more employed now than before the recession. It had more jobs than the other two to begin with. The important thing is that each of the state's main three cities and their metros are headed in the right direction.
I haven't checked the totals, but be careful to understand that "Civilian Labor Force" includes employed and unemployed civilian workers age 16 and older. (Source)
Also note that the Civilian Labor Force does not include members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Adding those to the Civilian Labor Force (employed and unemployed), results in the Labor Force.
One thing to keep in mind is that depending on what timeframe you are looking at, any of the three metros could be growing faster than the others. If you look at data for a short timeframe, if may only tell part of the story. For Charleston, the recent growth is a result of Boeing and movement of retirement age folks. There are some IT jobs but, nothing that makes it stand out, Greenville and Columbia have IT jobs at or above Charleston.
And while we are growing in SC, we only need to look up I77 to see how far behind we are in the growth race if that is what people want. Charlotte and Raleigh are in a different league with regards to growth and unfortunately, I don't see any of the SC centered metros posting those kind of numbers for a significant period of time.
For me, I like to see a trend of growth before I think it is Indicative of the areas strength. Boeing will drive Charleston's numbers for a while but, the city is still a tourist city. For any SC to step out, there needs to be a cluster of high impact positions. Columbia is seeing this on a very small scale with insurance and IT, maybe the new pharm plant will also lead to some clustering. I am not sure where Greenville is headed. There is a small cluster of auto related manufacturing but, I don't see this as becoming a big R&D center for auto, there is simply too much infrastructure in Michigan and California for that to happen. Greenville does a good job with attracting regional offices, maybe one of those will lead to a HQ.
Is unemployment lower today in Charleston than it was prior the economic collapse? So there are more jobs in Charleston today but unemployment is higher?
As unbelievable as it seems to you, the data shows that there are about 10,000 more people with jobs in Charleston now than there was in 2007/2008. That's directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Look at the graph titled Employment. There are more employed people in Charleston SC now than there ever has been by a wide margin:
How do you get the link let you enter whatever MSA you want to check? Or exactly how did you get this one page for the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville (am I missing any municipalities) MSA?
Is unemployment lower today in Charleston than it was prior the economic collapse? So there are more jobs in Charleston today but unemployment is higher?
Unemployment is significantly higher since 2007 in a vast majority of cities across the U.S. The economic reality is even worse than it appears in basic workforce statistics, because many jobs are part-time and offer low wages without benefits. Add the burden of increasing taxes, inflation (CPI), and national debt, to bring the true economic condition into focus.
Nonetheless, a metropolitan area can have a greater rate of unemployment and simultaneously employ more workers. It simply means the labor force has grown.
One thing to keep in mind is that depending on what timeframe you are looking at, any of the three metros could be growing faster than the others. If you look at data for a short timeframe, if may only tell part of the story. For Charleston, the recent growth is a result of Boeing and movement of retirement age folks. There are some IT jobs but, nothing that makes it stand out, Greenville and Columbia have IT jobs at or above Charleston.
And while we are growing in SC, we only need to look up I77 to see how far behind we are in the growth race if that is what people want. Charlotte and Raleigh are in a different league with regards to growth and unfortunately, I don't see any of the SC centered metros posting those kind of numbers for a significant period of time.
For me, I like to see a trend of growth before I think it is Indicative of the areas strength. Boeing will drive Charleston's numbers for a while but, the city is still a tourist city. For any SC to step out, there needs to be a cluster of high impact positions. Columbia is seeing this on a very small scale with insurance and IT, maybe the new pharm plant will also lead to some clustering. I am not sure where Greenville is headed. There is a small cluster of auto related manufacturing but, I don't see this as becoming a big R&D center for auto, there is simply too much infrastructure in Michigan and California for that to happen. Greenville does a good job with attracting regional offices, maybe one of those will lead to a HQ.
I don't know about the actual numbers, but a higher percentage of Charleston's workforce is in IT than Columbia's, although Columbia's posted the second biggest gain percentage-wise in the nation over the past year or so. Charleston also has a high percentage of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs according to an article just out the other day. I don't know what having a high percentage of state government, finance and insurance jobs does to Columbia's STEM percentage.
I don't know about the actual numbers, but a higher percentage of Charleston's workforce is in IT than Columbia's, although Columbia's posted the second biggest gain percentage-wise in the nation over the past year or so. Charleston also has a high percentage of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs according to an article just out the other day. I don't know what having a high percentage of state government, finance and insurance jobs does to Columbia's STEM percentage.
The actual number people in the information workforce per BLS is higher in Columbia than it is in Charleston, the percentage composition is slightly higher in Charleston due to a smaller base of non farm jobs. The one thing these numbers don't tell is how many IT positions are in government or business. Columbia has a good number of banks in the city which have IT related positions. These positions may be classified as Finance so, the numbers are most likely higher than advertised in Columbia. The same applies for Greenville.
Charleston's biggest employment sectors are government. Leisure, transportation, and business services. In the past 6 months, I know a short time, Charleston's information sector is flat.
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