Simon Says: Best labor markets in Georgia, S.C. are on the coasts

Last week, I compared the labor market in Augusta to other metro areas in Georgia. However, two counties in the August metro area are in South Carolina (Aiken and Edgefield), so how does Augusta stack up against South Carolina cities?

Like Georgia, the fastest-growing labor markets in South Carolina are on the coast. The Labor Market Index (LMI) for Charleston grew at 2.5 percent over the last year and by a whopping 4.7 percent in Myrtle Beach. (The fastest growth in Georgia was Savannah at 3.6 percent).

Over the past year, Myrtle Beach has added 8,900 jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped 1.6 percentage points to 4.1 percent. Average weekly earnings increased by $91 or 13 percent. The labor force expanded by almost 8,000 people and the average weekly hours worked increased by about one and a half hours.

Charleston added 16,700 jobs and saw unemployment fall by one percentage point to 3.1 percent. Average weekly earnings increased by $42 or 4.2 percent. The labor force grew by over 12,000 and the average weekly hours worked remained largely unchanged.

Other than Charleston and Myrtle Beach, Augusta compared relatively well to other South Carolina metro areas. Our closest geographic metro area, Columbia, saw no change in the LMI over the last year. Columbia saw employment fall by 1,700 jobs but unemployment also fell by 0.9 percentage points as more than 1,000 people left the labor force. Average weekly earnings fell by just $3 but hours fell by over an hour.

Overall, coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina have fared better over the last year than inland metro areas. The fastest-growing metro areas, Savannah in Georgia and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, have been able to attract workers by offering wage increases above the rate of inflation.