The beginning of the week was focused on our Unemployment Roundtable Discussion, where I think we had a productive back-and-forth conversation with well over 100 folks – everyone from state legislators, business leaders and agency directors – on the topics of workforce development, the numbers behind the numbers with regard to unemployment, and how we can better connect those seeking employment with the job opportunities that do indeed exist across the state.
We set up Tuesday’s discussion for three reasons: one, unemployment and the related goal of job creation is the greatest challenge facing our state today.
Two, there continues to be a glaring lack of accountability at the Employment Security Commission (ESC) – and the consequences of this are neither pretty nor easily remedied. Right now our state’s unemployment trust fund deficit is nearing a billion dollars, and despite urgings over the past year by us and House leaders, true reform to the ESC came just a few votes short last session. Now another consequence of this lack of accountability has come to bear, in that nearly 7,000 South Carolinians’ unemployment benefits were cut short by a wholly preventable oversight, and because of that, state lawmakers are returning next week to fix the error.
Three, some have argued that the only way to fill this trust fund deficit is to raise taxes on South Carolina businesses – up to $567 per employee! We strongly disagree, and like many others in Tuesday’s standing room only crowd, we’d argue that real reform and accountability at the Employment Security Commission is a better place to start the process of getting back to even ground than simply raising taxes.
On the issue of unemployment and government’s limited role in connecting folks out of work with high-quality jobs, I believe your voice can and must be heard. A billion dollar deficit and burdensome taxes on all state’s businesses will affect each and every one of us, and for that reason, I’d encourage you to contact your local legislators and urge them to support substantive ESC reform when they return to Columbia in January.
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