Peach Tree Times

While the nation's economy, after more than a year in the grip of the pandemic, is rebounding differently from state to state, it seems that Georgia and South Carolina share many similarities.

In a Chicago Tribune report, Georgia and South Carolina ranked No. 25 and 26, respectively, based on several key metrics including unemployment rates, house-price index scores and real GDP. These categories are are either aided or hindered by the policies of each state, say Romina Boccia and Adam Michel of the Heritage Foundation.

In a co-authored report, the pair asserts that the best way to boost recovery is to “remove disincentives that stand in the way of economic activity. Policymakers can realize the great American economic recovery through ensuring policy predictability and pursuing an environment that enables working, hiring, commerce and investing without unnecessary distortions.”

In the Tribune report, unemployment in Georgia was at 4.3% in April, down from 11.9% in April 2020. In South Carolina, unemployment stood at 5% in April, down from 12.1% the previous April. 

However, Boccia and Michel expressed concerns about the impact of additional federal bailouts and stimulus efforts.

“Further federal bailouts of state and local budgets and more general stimulus efforts threaten to derail the recovery by interfering with incentives that are crucial to getting America back to work while improperly adding to the federal debt burden,” they wrote. “Lawmakers should resist the temptation to direct economic activity with checks from Washington or large-scale government purchases, focusing instead on clearing the path for American society to rise up from this crisis, renewed and strengthened, like a phoenix from the ashes.”

Job growth has been similar in Georgia and South Carolina. According to the Tribune report, Georgia had 4,473,600 existing jobs in April, up 10.3% from last year. In South Carolina, the growth was slightly higher, with the state having 2,113,300 existing jobs, up 11.9% from last year. 

To continue this growth, Boccia and Michel noted in their report that it is important for Congress to strike any rules that make it more costly to do business, and eliminate restrictions that hamper the chances of people returning to work. 

“Repairing broken supply chains, re-opening shuttered businesses, rehiring furloughed employees, establishing new businesses, and expanding those businesses that survived the crisis are all precursors to meeting any uptick in post-crisis demand,” they wrote. 

Georgia and South Carolina also have seen similar GDP growth over the last year, the Tribune reported. In the Peach State, real GDP stood at $637.2 billion, an increase of 9.7% from the second quarter of 2020. It was a similar story in neighboring South Carolina, with real GDP at $248.8 billion during the fourth quarter of 2020, a rebound of 10.7% from the second quarter of 2020.  

It has been a long road back for workers in Georgia and South Carolina. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, both states saw unemployment soar, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report. In Georgia, unemployment peaked at 12.5%, while South Carolina’s unemployment high-water mark was 11.5%. 

Both states now have fewer unemployed workers, according to the BLS report. In Georgia, the total labor force includes 5.1 million workers, with about 4.9 million currently unemployed, leaving 211,700 people, 4.1%, unemployed. 

In South Carolina, the labor force include 2.2 million people with 2.2 million currently employed. The number of unemployed in South Carolina is 110,300.