Economics

Edgefield County in South Carolina had the largest increase in average weekly wage in 2021 for the seven-county Augusta metro area. Wages there increased from $802 per week in 2020 to $874 in 2021, based on recently released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That equates to a 9 percent increase, just enough to compensate for inflation running at 8.6 percent. All counties in the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) saw increases in average weekly wages, but not enough to keep up with inflation. Burke County in Georgia had

The labor force in Augusta is below 267,000 (March 2022) compared to almost 271,000 pre-pandemic. Traditional thinking and economics suggest that employers should raise wages and that will increase the workers’ opportunity cost of staying at home and at least some workers will be enticed back into the labor force. Unfortunately, as I mentioned last week, average weekly earnings in Augusta have not kept up with increases at the state and national levels, and even declined in 2021. Nationally, earnings have increased by 5 percent in the same period. But

Several leaders of major banks recently warned about a looming financial crisis that could plunge the United States into a major recession. This reflects the same sentiment of a gloomy economic forecast as Hull College of Business economist, Simon Medcalfe made in his ABD column on Wednesday (see his local report here). “It’s a hurricane,” JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon said at a recent banking conference in describing his view of the economy. Like with a natural hurricane, where it is sunny and peaceful in the days ahead of