Economics

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents that Black and Hispanic persons are up to twice as likely to need hospitalization when contracting Covid-19 than white persons. The likelihood of death is over 1.5 times as high as white persons. Recent research by Robert Fairlee of the University of California Los Angeles has identified racial and ethnic disparities in business earnings. Pandemic-induced losses to businesses in 2020 were 16-19 percent for all business owners. However, Black business owners suffered a larger negative impact of 12-14 percent compared to

The Augusta Leading Economic Index (LEI) fell 1.1 percent in December 2023 from November 2023. It is 2.5 percent lower than December 2022. The index has fallen 12 percentage points from its all-time peak in June 2022, with data going back to 2007 (see chart below). The major components that caused the monthly decline were residential permits and initial claims for unemployment insurance. Housing permits fell 21 percent in December from November and were 813 lower in 2023 than in 2022. Initial claims for unemployment insurance claims rose 27 percent

The future of public transit needs in light of growth in Aiken County was the focus of the Feb. 8 “Good Morning North Augusta” breakfast, sponsored by the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce. The Lower Savannah Council of Governments (COG) is working with a Minnesota-based company to study transportation and economic growth in the Aiken-Augusta area. Public transit in Aiken County had been operated by the City of Aiken but was turned over to COG in 2004. “Since then, we’ve modified a little bit of our transit system, our Best