News and Press Releases for July 2006

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7/21/2006

Gov. Sanford Issues Statement on Unemployment Rate

Columbia, S.C. - Governor Mark Sanford today issued the following statement on South Carolina's unemployment rate:

"Looking at South Carolina's overall economic picture, there are a number of signs that show we're moving in the right direction with respect to our economy, particularly when you look at the pace of growth in state revenue and the number of jobs created since January 2003," Gov. Sanford said. "Job creation during the first three years of our administration has outpaced each previous administration over a comparable time period since the creation of the Department of Commerce. On top of that, there are nearly 123,000 more people working in our state than there were when 2003 began. But despite that growth in the number of jobs, we continue to have an amazing number of people coming to our state, which has accelerated our labor force growth and impacted our rate of employment.

"At the same time, there are indications that this expanding workforce is paying dividends to our economy. As was reported earlier this week, the Board of Economic Advisors now anticipates another $100 million in surplus revenue, over and above the $1.1 billion in new dollars coming into state government this year.

"As late as two days ago BEA Chairman John Rainey said South Carolina's unemployment figure doesn't make sense because it does not accurately reflect the state's robust level of revenue growth and economic momentum. His exact words were 'There is no way to have this huge of an increase (in state revenues) and still have unemployment where it is.' William Gillespie, the state's chief economist, said the unemployment number could even be wrong."