Metro area job losses among nation’s worst

Columbia ended 2003 near the top of a national list — the list of metro areas losing jobs the fastest.

About 298,200 people worked in Richland and Lexington counties in December, 10,300 fewer than 12 months earlier, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The metro area’s work force has declined in each of the past four years — from 1999 to 2003 — by a total of 17,600 jobs.

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said the area has suffered from national trends that have led factories to lay off workers and companies to ship service jobs overseas.

Economists have said the nation’s economy has been recovering since November 2001, but Coble said the U.S. economy cannot sustain continuing job losses.

“Companies are doing well, but jobs are being lost. It’s a house of cards that falls on itself.”

The 3.5 percent decline put Columbia in a tie for fifth place with Lawton, Okla., a metro area encompassing the 114,996 people living in Comanche County.

The biggest loser among the nation’s 288 metropolitan areas was the Steubenville, Ohio-Weirton, W.Va., area, which lost 5.2 percent of its jobs. The nation’s jobs winner was Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla., with a 5.7 percent gain.

Bernice Scott, chairwoman of the Richland County Council, said she now encounters more constituents with post-graduate degrees asking for help finding jobs.

“It’s awful,” Scott said. “The American dream is getting an education and getting a job. And the more education you have, the better the job. But there are no jobs to be had.”

Coble said tougher trade policies at the national level would help keep some jobs. In the meantime, he said, he is trying to attract potential employers by making the city more attractive by improving its roads, sewers and landscaping.

The city also is helping USC construct a research center downtown to draw new businesses and is building a hotel and convention center to attract the out-of-town dollars of business travelers.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also show:

• Based on average monthly employment, the Columbia area lost 6,900 jobs from 2002 to 2003, the fourth annual drop since 1999. Statistics going back to 1958 show Columbia’s only other annual losses were in 1974-75 and 1990-91.

• Most of Columbia’s jobs — 4,900 — were lost in the services sector, while manufacturing and construction lost 2,700 jobs.

• State government has cut 700 jobs in the past year in the Columbia area, but local governments picked up 700 workers.

• South Carolina lost 22,400 jobs last year, the first time its overall number of jobs has fallen three years in a row since the Great Depression.

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@thestate.com