A news analysis by Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina experienced a 1.4 percent decrease in poverty between 2014 and 2015 — the third sharpest decline in the country according to new Census figures — but analysts seem to agree the reasons for the drop aren’t really clear.
New figures show an estimated 16.6 percent of South Carolinians — some 790,715 residents — lived in poverty in 2015. That’s 53,145 fewer people who lived in dire circumstances than the year before.
Meanwhile, another new Census report highlights household incomes across the country grew 5.2 percent last year, the largest single-year increase since 1967 when the agency started keeping records. Nationally, the median household income was $56,500.
“At the national and state level, incomes were rising, even at the bottom of the income distribution, which puts downward pressure on poverty,” said economic analyst Janelle Jones of the nationally-recognized Economic Policy Institute. “For South Carolina, the increase in median household incomes was 4.3 percent.”
Both measures — the increase in income and drop in poverty — appear to reflect a return to widespread prosperity for the country following the Great Recession that it has been struggling to shake for the last eight years.
Interestingly, though, the state hasn’t made major policy changes to reduce poverty, such as increasing the minimum wage or adding a state Earned Income Tax Credit for working South Carolinians, suggesting that either policy initiative or others could cause more downward pressure to reduce poverty. South Carolina has, however, focused a lot of resources in growing and developing new jobs.
“The state also had positive directions of other labor market indicators through 2015,” Jones added, “including labor force participation rate (increase), employment to population ratio (increase) and unemployment rate (decrease).
She cautioned, however, that the new data compared changes over one year: “I like to be careful to keep an eye on trends over at least a couple of years before making any firm conclusions.”
Jobs and wages as a way ahead
Folks at the S.C. Department of Commerce point to South Carolina’s intense focus on recruiting and developing more jobs as a way to make the state more prosperous. In August, the state’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, far below its peak in December 2009 of 11.7 percent
“South Carolina’s manufacturing employment has grown approximately 15 percent since January 2010 – a figure which leads the Southeast,” said Commerce Department spokesman Adrienne Fairwell. “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from December 2014 to December 2015, the number of employees on nonfarm payrolls in South Carolina increased by 48,600, or 2.4 percent.”
Advocates at the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina pointed to the vital role that public programs, such as Social Security, nutrition assistance, workers’ tax credits and housing assistance, have lifted millions out of poverty.
“We can do better for South Carolina and we should do better,” said Sisters of Charity President Tom Keith. “Many South Carolinians still struggle in an economy that is not working for them. We can take steps to help. We can expand tax credits for working families, increase wages for low-income workers, allow everyone access to quality education, from pre-K through college, invest in good jobs and training for workers, support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and adopt fair workplace policies, such as equal pay for women, family and medical leave, and paid sick days.”
State AFL-CIO President Erin McKee urged state legislators to push for good-paying jobs with health insurance and retirement as a way to keep people out of poverty. The organization also is pushing a raise in the minimum wage.
“Our society needs to value all jobs — from the person who cleans hotel rooms, the fast food worker, the electrician, and all the way up to the doctor and lawyer,” she said. “The lawyer wants a clean hotel room and we should pay people who work hard a living wage and benefits.”
One lawyer, Democratic S.C. Sen. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston, says he’ll push to boost the minimum wage to $15 per hour and seek earned sick pay benefits for hourly workers when the legislative session starts in January.
“While I’m supportive of economic incentives to lure major companies to South Carolina, we need to invest in our citizenry right here at home,” Kimpson said. “The most productive asset a state can have is a well-educated, healthy working class that earns a livable wage.”
The S.C. Chamber of Commerce continues to oppose any increases in the minimum wage, spokesman Molly McCarthy confirmed today. In June, it said a 2016 legislative achievement was its help in blocking “arbitrary minimum wage increase that is sure to put hardworking South Carolinians out of work.
The Chamber does, however, support efforts to improve skills of South Carolina workers, which it says makes the state more attractive to employers. It also backs “a statewide initiative for education starting with early childhood development through career readiness.”
Ted Pitts, president and CEO of the chamber, said today, “There’s no other entity as engaged in the fight against poverty as the business community, from community involvement initiatives to the jobs they provide. The business community will continue to work with our state’s leaders to raise up all South Carolinians.”
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