When an economist visited Anderson last December, he described the nation’s economic recovery as a barbecue: low and slow. He could have been talking about the Anderson metro itself. The only difference is that Anderson’s economy isn’t getting better on the spit – it’s just getting cooked. Located in the fast-growing “Upcountry” region of northwestern South Carolina, metro Anderson has been losing jobs: some 2,400 jobs in the latest reported 12-month period. That’s a 4.0 percent decline makes Anderson the fifth-worst metro in terms of job growth. Its job losses were concentrated in the service sector and in state government.
In some ways, its woes reflect South Carolina’s weaker-than-hoped-for economic growth, with weak employment indicators and mixed housing conditions. Statewide, the construction industry continues to struggle. South Carolina issued 10.4 percent fewer residential permits in April than in March, and housing prices decreased in the first quarter of 2012 – the fourteenth consecutive year-over-year decline in house prices.
There’s also a mismatch, some analysts say, between the manufacturing skills of residents who lost their jobs and the demands of the more technically advanced and less labor-intensive manufacturing plants moving in. On that front, at least, there’s some good news for Anderson. This month, CEL Chemical and Supplies announced it will establish a new $900,000 plant employing 15 workers to create and ship chemicals for the paperboard and chemical industries.
