Industrial Employment in South Carolina Had Declined 1.5% Over Past Year

Over the past 12 months, the industrial employment in South Carolina has fell 1.5 percent, according to the 2012 South Carolina Manufacturers Register. The South Carolina Manufacturers Register is an industrial directory that is published on an annual basis by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) of Evanston, IL. MNI reports “South Carolina lost 4,055 manufacturing jobs over the past year, about half the 8,474 jobs MNI reported the state lost over the 2009-2010 survey period.”

“The recovery is gaining momentum in South Carolina and across the U.S.,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912. “The state’s low business costs and solid infrastructure have been a draw for a variety of enterprises.”

Some of the positive things for the state included:

Newberry County facility expansion

Opening of Boeing’s new plant

Dillon Furniture expansion

Bridgestone Americas expansion

New firearms plant by Daniel Defense Inc.

YH American LLC’s facility expansion

Manufacturers’ News reports South Carolina is now home to 4,938 manufacturers employing 256,469 workers.

The state’s largest manufacturing sector is in industrial machinery. MNI reports that the industry is the largest because of the 34,647 jobs, which have not changed at all within the last year. The textiles/apparel industry actually rose its employment up to 1 percent, which was a first since it has been years since a rise in employment. The textiles/apparel industry has 27,421 jobs. The industry of transportation equipment is steady as it has 26,370 jobs and has grown up by 4.4 percent.

Not all industries were safe as some actually lost jobs such as the furniture/fixtures industry, which went down 13 percent. The printing/publishing industry fell to 7 percent and the stone/clay/glass sector has gone down to 6.6 percent. Other sectors include the lumber/wood industry that is down to 5.2 percent, a drop of 4.7 percent in food products and the fabricated metals industry is loosing its steadiness by dropping down to 3.6 percent. There were some increases as the chemicals industry rose to 3.6 percent, primary metals coming up to 3.1 percent and the instruments/related products rising to 3 percent.

Industrial employment within South Carolina’s Northwest region has been steady for over a year now as it accounts for 163,026 manufacturing jobs. “The Northeast region ranks second at 44,328 manufacturing jobs, down 6.7% over the year. The Southeast region of the state is home to 29,524 industrial jobs, up 1.6%, while the Southwest is home to 19,591 jobs, down 5.4%.”

South Carolina’s astonishing numbers in the manufacturing and industrial fields can be found in the 2012 South Carolina Manufacturers Register, which currently sells at $109 for print and $163 on CD-ROM. Information can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. As jobs continue to be lost not only in South Carolina but also across the country, President Barack Obama is trying to revamp his jobs bill in order to create jobs for the unemployed across the nation.