South Carolina's weak job growth plunged further in the year's second quarter, triggering new partisan criticism of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's policies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Wednesday the state placed 50th in job growth at .07 of a percent, an eight-place drop from the first quarter. Ohio was 49th.

FDIC analysts said also that early data from the third quarter suggests "further weakening."

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin called the report sobering and said Sanford "seems totally incapable of leading South Carolina out of this mess. While Democrats and Republicans have offered to assist his job creation efforts, he continues to adopt a lone-ranger attitude and South Carolina continues to fall further and further behind the rest of the nation."

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But Joel Sawyer, Sanford's spokesman, said Erwin and other Democrats were "playing politics with a situation the governor is working very hard to improve."

South Carolina's neighboring states fared better in the second quarter: North Carolina, with 1.42 percent Growth, was 24th and Georgia, .50, was 47th.

Booming Nevada, at 6.5 percent, was No. 1.

The FDIC report cited deterioration in the state's economy during the second quarter as employment contracted slightly from year-ago levels, "effectively ranking job growth among the worst in the nation."

Analysts said declines in service providers, including education and professional services, and losses in manufacturing "continue to constrain growth."

The condition of South Carolina's economy and Sanford's effectiveness in dealing with it is emerging as the salient issue in his quest for a second term next year. Criticism, too, has come from within his own party.

Sawyer said it's factually inaccurate to say Sanford isn't engaged with the business community.

"Look at the Council on Competitiveness. That's a bipartisan effort for businesspeople that the Governor's Office helped start and fund," Sawyer said. Land's challengeState Senate Democratic leader John Land III of Manning said that in the midst of a job crisis, "Once again reality has eluded Gov. Sanford. He continues to paint a rosy picture of South Carolina's economy. But the facts say otherwise."

Land said that ranking fifth in unemployment and 50th in job growth "is not progress."

Sawyer said, "John Land's idea of economic development is making $800,000 (practicing law) in front of the Workers' Compensation Commission when he's a sitting legislator" who has a vote in confirming members of the panel.

Sanford has been under fire from Democrats and some Republicans dissatisfied with South Carolina's lagging growth in jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, substantially higher than the national average.

In July, Standard & Poor's downgraded the state's credit rating from the top AAA rating because of slow economic growth.

Dissident Republicans sought to recruit retired banker-ambassador Robert Royall to challenge Sanford in next year's primary. Although he backed off, Royall said there are legitimate economic problems that Sanford must address. Heavy lossesThe Greenville News reported earlier this year that South Carolina had lost more than 76,000 manufacturing jobs over a five-year period, 4.2 percent of its total labor force and one of the worst percentage losses in the nation.

An analysis of state employment data showed the replacement jobs were, overall, lower paying positions in the service sector, and the trend showed no signs of letting up.

The manufacturing sector still employs more than 220,000 people statewide, or nearly 15 percent of the state's labor force, an indication that thousands more could be forced to find new careers.

Greenville's total manufacturing losses have mirrored the state trend, though roughly 45,000 still employed in the sector this year represent a far larger, 19 percent slice of the total work force.

The FDIC report cited varying economic performance around the state.

"Although gains have slowed markedly, Charleston and Myrtle Beach remain the fastest-growing areas with year-over-year job growth above 2 percent," it said.

But other metropolitan areas, including Greenville, "have experienced more modest gains of less than 1 percent" and Sumter suffered employment declines over the past year, according to the report. Bright spotsNot everything is rosy, Sawyer said, but there are bright spots.

"It's no secret South Carolina is still reeling from globalization to a certain extent, particularly with textile jobs," Sawyer said. "Add to that, of the jobs recruited in the 1990s by the Department of Commerce, 36 percent of them aren't here any more."

Sanford's efforts to recruit high-paying jobs and improve the underlying conditions for economic growth continue unabated, he said. Sawyer cited recent successes involving bipartisan cooperation: