The word from economic development folks in South Carolina is that three companies are planning to add over 2,000 jobs in the state over the next five years.
Benefitfocus is anticipating adding 1,200 new jobs when it expands its Daniel Island facility. Call center Star Tec will add 660 jobs in Horry County. Keer Group will build a new yarn-making plant in Lancaster County that will employ 500.
Nationally some economists see a 3 percent growth rate in 2014 (up from 2 percent) that will average 250,000 new jobs a month (up from 190,000). That would bring the unemployment rate down below 6 percent and getting close to what economists feel should be considered “full-employment”.
The question is how could this good economic news be happening with Obamacare going into full effect in 2014? Obamacare critics continue to tell us how the healthcare reform is killing jobs and is stifling the economy.
The facts are quite different. The economy is getting slowly better, which is actually the correct formula for a sustainable recovery. The business community has decided that Obamacare is the law of the land and will not be rescinded. And with that “uncertainty” out of the way, businesses investing in the future has begun.
Unfortunately, we can expect the anti-Obamacare drum beat to only get louder as the 2014 mid-term Congressional elections get closer. But now the business community is not listening.