Layoffs down for '09

By John Boyanoski  

JANUARY 8, 2010 5:23 p.m. (0)

There were 266,330 unemployed South Carolinians at the end of 2009 and close to 2,700 of them were Upstate workers laid off in the previous 12 months.

As the nation continues to battle a crippling recession now in its third calendar year, area economic leaders said things will remain tough, but there has been job creation that has offset some of the layoffs.

Spartanburg, which lost 1,362 jobs in 2009 and after losing 1,772 the previous year, saw the creation of roughly 1,500 jobs as well, said David Cordeau, the Chamber of Commerce president.

In addition, many of the job losses, which are tracked by the state’s Dislocated Worker Unit that goes to closing businesses immediately to help employees find new jobs, were layoffs from companies that still are in operation.

The hope is those companies will start hiring again in 2010 once the economy rebounds, Cordeau said.

“The big unknown is how many of these jobs will be filled,” he said.

Greenville saw 990 job losses, Anderson saw 330 and Pickens saw 40 in 2009, according to the Journal analysis. Greenville lost 980, Anderson lost 410 and Pickens lost 282 the previous year.

Those numbers raised unemployment statewide to 12.3 percent in November, which is the highest in state history, and up 0.3 percent from October.

Greenville’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent, which is still one of the lowest in the state, but up from 7.6 percent at the end of 2008. Spartanburg was 12.5 percent, which was up from 9.4, while Anderson was 12.7, which was up from 9.6, and Pickens was 11 percent and that was up from 8 percent.

Jerry Howard, the president of the Greenville Area Development Corp., said many of the 1,300 jobs announced by companies such as Samsung, Kyocera and Kemet in 2009 won’t be totally filled for a few years. In reality, about 900 jobs came to Greenville last year.

While that means new jobs are coming, it doesn’t help the person who lost their job or for people who may lose their jobs with more layoffs on the way, he said.

The real test is tracking where job loss and job creation are going, Howard said. Every industry sector is reacting differently to the down economy.

“There is no magic bullet,” he said.

While the announced layoffs are down, the actual job losses are likely higher because many companies did not report to the state commerce department.

Some of the bigger mass layoffs in the reason in 2008 were Spartanburg’s Direct Brands dropping 169 people in March, Greenville’s John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels shutting down with 190 employees in December and Anderson’s Mount Vernon Mills letting go 176 people in two plants during the spring.

Layoffs in 2009

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