SC Budget Loses $120 Million As Recession Drags On

JIM DAVENPORT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The long recession is cutting more money from state revenues and expected to force spending cuts of nearly $120 million from South Carolina schools, colleges and prisons.

That reduction, paired with $328 million slashed from estimates this summer, means state — just a third of the way through its budget year — already has slashed nearly a half billion from revenue estimates that are now just over $5.6 billion.

The cuts are being driven by unemployment and cautious consumers who have stopped or reduced spending on everything from cars to vacations and homes to appliances.

South Carolina's 11.7 percent jobless rate in September was the nation's sixth highest. As troublesome as that number is, it doesn't include hundreds of thousands of people who have given up job searches, noted John Rainey, the chairman of the state Board of Economic Advisors.

"This is really a sobering meeting when you say that half a million people in this state ... are out of work," Rainey said.

He and others on the board see a fundamental reshaping of the salaries, the work force and employment in the making. For instance, more men who had higher wage jobs losing paychecks, while women earning on an average of three quarters of a men holding onto jobs. Meanwhile, they expect employers to squeeze more productivity from remaining workers and avoiding hiring.