Relocate to South Carolina, North Carolina, or Georgia??? (Columbia, Charleston: 2009, unemployment)

[Greenville]

It is laughable that some here are trying to paint the South as this awful place where nobody makes any money, and where all of these people don't have jobs. I agree that people will find it difficult to live here if they don't have a job (or if they lose their job). But guess what? THAT IS TRUE ANYWHERE! In fact, it would be much worse to lose your job somewhere like New York City where the cost of living is much higher.

These people who have personal grudges because their specific situation did not workout need to stop. I'm sorry for all those who lost their jobs, but that's not the South's fault. Blame our nation's leaders, because the economic woes are a national problem. Losing your job in a mid-size metro in South Carolina is no more unique than losing your job in any other mid-size to large city. And just because NYC has a lot of jobs doesn't mean that finding a job is any easier.

This horse has been beaten to death, in multiple threads. Can we please move on?

[Columbiadata]

On Lou Dobbs tonight they said the US is basically creating no new jobs right now and that any recovery is sure to be anemic. I'll end my input on the subject there.

[Mrs. P]

Originally Posted by Columbiadata

Put simply, there's a reason people living and working in NYC are paid NYC wages and people living and working in SC are paid SC wages. It's called the cost of living.

yes, I took a 10,000 pay cut. Ohio-->NC--->SC

When I moved to NC from Ohio, it was a huge hit there because their cost of living was so much higher....moved 5 miles south to SC, and I live just fine...just fine. I have everything if not more than where I moved from, and on less income.

I don't pay 300 a month gas bills, I don't pay 4000.00 a year real estate taxes, my electric, phone and water/sewer are cheaper here too. I don't pay city tax. Everything is cheaper in SC, except food. Our food prices are a little higher than most, but we make up for it by cheaper gasoline, due to not being taxed to death.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by Mrs. P

yes, I took a 10,000 pay cut. Ohio-->NC--->SC

When I moved to NC from Ohio, it was a huge hit there because their cost of living was so much higher....moved 5 miles south to SC, and I live just fine...just fine. I have everything if not more than where I moved from, and on less income.

I don't pay 300 a month gas bills, I don't pay 4000.00 a year real estate taxes, my electric, phone and water/sewer are cheaper here too. I don't pay city tax. Everything is cheaper in SC, except food. Our food prices are a little higher than most, but we make up for it by cheaper gasoline, due to not being taxed to death.

Great point Mrs. P, I too took a pay cut - albeit a smaller one, about $5k, and it was offset as my wife ended up making about that much more - but we not only pay less on all the things you mentioned, but you get more house for your money in most places. Our house here would have cost at least 10% more where we were in Ohio. And the real estate tax savings are huge! Our house here is valued at about 30-35% higher than our house in OH was, yet we pay $100 less in R.E. taxes/year, and as you said, no city income taxes which is another 2% savings! And even though food is a little more, I've found having more grocery stores here (there are 5 main one's in the Columbia area) that if you shop the specials, use coupons, that we spend about the same or even less sometimes than we did in Ohio where there were really only a couple of grocery stores to choose from.

[Mrs. P]

Originally Posted by Buckeye in SC

Great point Mrs. P, I too took a pay cut - albeit a smaller one, about $5k, and it was offset as my wife ended up making about that much more - but we not only pay less on all the things you mentioned, but you get more house for your money in most places. Our house here would have cost at least 10% more where we were in Ohio. And the real estate tax savings are huge! Our house here is valued at about 30-35% higher than our house in OH was, yet we pay $100 less in R.E. taxes/year, and as you said, no city income taxes which is another 2% savings! And even though food is a little more, I've found having more grocery stores here (there are 5 main one's in the Columbia area) that if you shop the specials, use coupons, that we spend about the same or even less sometimes than we did in Ohio where there were really only a couple of grocery stores to choose from.

yeah but, yeah but.....I STILL MISS OHIO MILK

[jersgrl1969]

Originally Posted by Greenville

It is laughable that some here are trying to paint the South as this awful place where nobody makes any money, and where all of these people don't have jobs. I agree that people will find it difficult to live here if they don't have a job (or if they lose their job). But guess what? THAT IS TRUE ANYWHERE! In fact, it would be much worse to lose your job somewhere like New York City where the cost of living is much higher.

These people who have personal grudges because their specific situation did not workout need to stop. I'm sorry for all those who lost their jobs, but that's not the South's fault. Blame our nation's leaders, because the economic woes are a national problem. Losing your job in a mid-size metro in South Carolina is no more unique than losing your job in any other mid-size to large city. And just because NYC has a lot of jobs doesn't mean that finding a job is any easier.

This horse has been beaten to death, in multiple threads. Can we please move on?

OK,OK, but the fact remains that if you lose your job in SC, and you find yourself out of unemployment benefits and still no job in sight, and you can't pay your utility bills, the state is not going to help you. Not so in NY and NJ, where there are lots of programs designed to help the less fortunate. People like myself and NewYorkBorn and others who moved here hoping for a better living situation are angry. I notice there's a lot of SC natives on here who seem to think 'it can't happen to me.' Well, it can-no one is immune.

[jac]

Originally Posted by jersgrl1969

OK,OK, but the fact remains that if you lose your job in SC, and you find yourself out of unemployment benefits and still no job in sight, and you can't pay your utility bills, the state is not going to help you. Not so in NY and NJ, where there are lots of programs designed to help the less fortunate. People like myself and NewYorkBorn and others who moved here hoping for a better living situation are angry. I notice there's a lot of SC natives on here who seem to think 'it can't happen to me.' Well, it can-no one is immune.

Are you angry at the state or yourself? I know losing a job can happen to anybody. That is why we have an emergency fund and savings. I don't think it is the responsibility of the state to pay my bills.

[jersgrl1969]

Originally Posted by jac

Are you angry at the state or yourself? I know losing a job can happen to anybody. That is why we have an emergency fund and savings. I don't think it is the responsibility of the state to pay my bills.

What happens when the savings and emergency fund are gone? Some people remain out of work for a year or longer. I have a hard time believing that pride wins over hunger when it comes time to ask for help from the state.
Who am I angry with? Both, but especially at my so-called 'best' friend who gave me a snow job about how wonderful it is here and talked me into moving here. She had to know how bad it is; she's lived here for 3 years. Turns out she just wanted an on-call babysitter-she has no family here to rely on.
She's the one who's angry now because once my lease is up, I'm going back home. Do I feel bad? Hell no. My family and friends are all eagerly awaiting my return.

[NewYorkBorn]

People really need to stop pretending that it is not the state of SC fault that things are jacked up in this state. SC had the 3rd worst unemployment this summer..........what that means is that there are a lot of other states that were hit by the recession too but not as bad as SC.

Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe if SC would have made some progress 20 years ago instead of fighting progress that maybe it would be in a better economic position right now and maybe we would not have so many people unemployed??

Using the recession as an excuse to cover up the state of SC failure to educate and pay it's citizens a decent wage is not going to solve the problems that exist here. When the recession is over and SC residents are still suffering working low wage jobs or unable to find any work at all what excuse will the people on this forum use then?

SC has a bad reputation of lagging behind the rest of the country economically.....it has been that way for years, it is that way now during this recession and it will be the same BS when the rest of the country has recovered. Trust me the state of SC will be the last state to recover from this recession because there are a bunch of people living here who lack vision, ambition and an open mind!

[Columbiadata]

Here is an objective article about the current state of South Carolina's economy from the Greenville News. Manufacturing will have to be replaced by something else.

South Carolina's drop in jobless rate encourages experts | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News