GEORGETOWN, S.C. — A noted CCU researcher believes Georgetown’s economy won’t improve to pre-recession levels for several years if business activity doesn’t increase faster.
That’s what Coastal Carolina University research economist Don Schunk told elected officials from across the county during a session dealing with the local and state economy held Monday.
County Administrator Sel Hemingway, who organized the informational meeting, said the area is “experiencing a time in our economy unlike any we have seen or experienced.”
The jobless rate in Georgetown County was 14.6 percent in January.
February figures are expected to be released this week. Those figures should be about the same or slightly higher, Schunk said.
The problem, Schunk said, is the unemployment rates that are reported are deceiving.
He said as many as ten percentage points can be added to those numbers when people who are underemployed or who have stopped looking for work are factored into the equation.
Schunk spoke mainly about the manufacturing industry which — along with construction, healthcare and education fields — provides the highest paying jobs.
While the average household income in Georgetown County is about $33,000, the average wage in the manufacturing industry is about $54,000.
However, the local manufacturing industry has shed hundreds of jobs in the past decade.
Schunk said there were about 2,900 manufacturing jobs in the county in the early 2000s which has dropped to about 2,200.
He said because of things such as automation, the trend is for larger manufacturing plants with "smaller parking lots."
Replacing manufacturing jobs with tourism-industry jobs is not the best solution, Schunk said.
He said if 100 manufacturing jobs are replaced with 100 leisure and hospitality jobs, it costs the county about $10 million in annual household income, a net loss of 112 jobs.
A glimmer of hope
Schunk said while the economy is growing at a slow pace, it is growing.
“We don’t know right now what manufacturing will do but there are some positive signs,” he said.
He noted the recent Boeing manufacturing plant in North Charleston as an example.
Even if a new job-creating facility locates in another county, it’s still a win for Georgetown County.
That’s because, he said, only about half the workers in Georgetown County actually work inside the county. Nearly 27 percent commute to other counties such as Horry, Charleston and Marion.
“There are no such things as county lines as far as the economy is concerned,” Schunk said. “If a business locates in Horry or Charleston, it’s still a win as long as it’s somewhere close to you.”
The bottom line, Schunk said, is Georgetown County has to find a way to attract and keep manufacturing jobs while continuing to increase the number of tourist related jobs.
By Scott Harper
sharper@gtowntimes.com
: 3/12/2010
Since you brought Obama up in the first place.... previous poster who feels that Obama is not to blame. You are partially right. Bush did some things that makes me, as a conservative, cringe. However, your hero, Obama HAS made things "worser" as you say. Obama is all about BIG government...more taxes, more entitlement programs and bailouts. I know there are many people that are so proud that we have a black president...this does not make him a great president. I feel that he has divided this country more than ever. He has not brought hope and change like he said. Hopefully he will listen to the American people some Nov 2012!LOL
: 3/12/2010
Between Linda Mock taxing the boats out of existence, county council impacting builders out of existence and Jack taxing the city out of existence we will never recover from this
: 3/11/2010
Well alot of people is blaming Obama but it is not the elect President.It is the Previous president. Obama knows what he is doing. He is just trying to clean up the mess the previous president started. So lets not blame the President lets blame the previous president with all his mess and secrets that he hid from us.He is the one who have us in this recessions because of his secrets.Lets blame the right person and stop hating on Obama. You all can say what you all want to say but Obama is still your president. Who can mess things up worser than Bush has it now. Brush off the hate Haters cuz at the end of the day OBAMA IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT! LOL
: 3/11/2010
Lets make sure we don't let those biker's come back to town!
: 3/11/2010
Did he say ghost town?
: 3/10/2010
well, you can sit in church all day and hope that you'll get help, or you can open a job creating, tax paying casino the way most states have done.
: 3/10/2010
I agree with Schunk's comments. This is very basic economics. You would think that the elected officials should already know this?