Understandably we spend a lot of time in South Carolina talking about unemployment rates and our large homeless population, especially in Columbia. Those issues are of paramount importance and need to be addressed, today I would like to talk about something more positive to end the week on a brighter note.

For example, since 2011 our overall employment increase in South Carolina, in terms of the number of jobs, is 12.1%. That is higher than the states of Colorado, California, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina. In fact, we rank in the upper tier of employment change.

For April of 2016, the unemployment rate was 5.2%. This is a significant improvement and the largest sector of jobs that had an increase was in professional and business services. Because Columbia is, in large part, a professional and service economy, the highs may not be as high, but the lows are never as low as other areas in our nation. Here’s to hoping that our leadership on the State and National level (no matter who is governor and president) will continue to make job growth, wage increases, and employee benefits a top priority!