The Blame Game Over South Carolina's Slump

In a Presidential race that’s all about unemployment, the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary, the first in the South, could provide a unique glimpse into the mysteries of job creation. The state offers up a bit of a paradox: How did an economy so successful at luring nonunionized manufacturing jobs end up such a basket case? Some 18.2 percent of South Carolinians now live in poverty, up from 15 percent in 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The state’s jobless rate is 11.1 percent, vs. 9.1 percent nationally.

South Carolina’s troubles coincide with a fresh controversy over the expansion of a Boeing plant in North Charleston. The National Labor Relations Board sued Boeing in April over its decision to locate a 4,000-job factory there, saying the move was intended to punish union activity at a major manufacturing operation in Washington State. Republican candidates have pointed to the dispute as evidence that the Obama Administration is choking job growth. Mitt Romney called the action “an assault on business” and a “political payback” to unions that sent campaign contributions to Barack Obama in 2008. “It’s like the Obama Administration can’t come up with anything else to stifle business growth in this state,” says Lewis F. Gossett, president of the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance.