Leading, Slipping, Gaining, Lagging Analysis:
Assessing Local Government Employment Growth
Across South Carolina Counties
Local Government
Employment Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Local Government
Employment Growth
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
Borrowing from an approach that sometimes appears in the finance sections of the popular press, LSGL analysis is a handy and versatile way to compare, portray and classify the patterns of local government employment growth across all of South Carolina's 46 counties. In finance, this technique is used for comparing and assessing the market performance of individual securities or across industry sectors. For example, the performance of the 30 stocks contained within Dow are compared with one another over the past week in contrast to their performance over the past month using the Dow's respective averages as the points of reference.
Here in this South Carolina Regional Economic Analysis Project report, we adopt this approach to gauge and compare the local government employment growth of South Carolina's 46 counties over the latest available year (2022) against the backdrop of their growth over the long term period (2010-2022). In so doing we classify their growth and performance into 4 broad categories: Leading, Slipping, Gaining and Lagging.
Local Government
Employment Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Local Government
Employment Growth
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
This figure displays the 46 counties of South Carolina as dots on a scattergram, with the vertical axis representing the average annual local government employment growth rate over the long-term period (2010-2022), and the horizontal axis representing the local government employment growth rate for the near-term (2022).
This figure sets apart those counties whose long-term local government employment growth exceeded the statewide average of 0.22%, by portraying them in the top two quadrants demarcated at 0.22% on the vertical axis. County whose long-term average annual local government employment growth rate trailed the statewide average (0.22%) are distributed in the bottom two quadrants. In all, 11 counties surpassed the statewide average over 2010-2022, while 27 counties fell below.
Similarly, the two quadrants on the right of this figure present the positions of the 16 counties whose most recent (2022) local government employment growth rate exceeded the statewide average (0.70%). The two quadrants on the left feature those 22 counties whose local government employment growth over 2022 trailed the statewide average.
Accordingly, each quadrant portrays the performance of all 46 counties corresponding with their long-term (2010-2022) and near-term (2022) performance relative to their respective statewide averages of 0.22% over 2010-2022 and 0.70% over 2022:
Leading counties () (top-right quadrant)...are counties whose average annual local government employment growth rate surpassed the statewide average both long-term (0.22%) and near-term (0.70%).
Slipping counties () (top-left quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual local government employment growth rate exceeded the statewide average (0.22%), but whose near-term growth has "slipped" by falling below the South Carolina average (0.70%).
Gaining counties () (bottom-right quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual local government employment growth rate fell below the statewide average (0.22%), but whose near-term growth has "gained" by registering above the average (0.70%) statewide.
Lagging counties () (bottom-left quadrant)...are counties whose average annual local government employment growth rate fell under the statewide average both long-term (0.22%) and near-term (0.70%).
   
 
Summary of South Carolina's 46 County Totals
 
Short Term Average
 
 
Below
(0.70%)
Above
(0.70%)
 
Long
Term
Average
Above
(0.22%)
3
8
11
Below
(0.22%)
19
8
27
 
22
16
38
 
   
Leading Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Leading Counties
white dot
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
Turning attention to the top-right quadrant from the discussion above, this figure features the distribution of the South Carolina counties classified as Leading. These counties surpassed South Carolina's average annual local government employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 0.22%) as well as near-term (2022 = 0.70%). Each is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual local government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of South Carolina's 46 counties, 8 (17%) are classified within the Leading () category. Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Slipping Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Slipping Counties
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
This figure depicts the distribution of the 3 South Carolina counties classified as Slipping (top-left quadrant), in that their long-term average annual local government employment growth rate outpaced the average statewide (2010-2022 = 0.22%), while they trailed the statewide average near-term (2022 = 0.70%). Again, each county is identified by it's corresponding ranking based on its average annual local government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Only 3 (7%) of South Carolina's 46 counties are classified as Slipping (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Gaining Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Gaining Counties
white dot
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
This figure shows the distribution of the 8 South Carolina counties classified as Gaining (bottom-right quadrant), in that their long-term average annual local government employment growth rate posted below the average statewide (2010-2022 = 0.22%), while they outpaced South Carolina's average near-term (2022 = 0.70%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on its average annual local government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of South Carolina's 46 counties, 17% (8) are featured as Gaining (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Lagging Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Lagging Counties
white dot
South Carolina:
2010-2022 = 0.22%
2022 = 0.70%
This figure depicts the distributions of the 19 South Carolina counties classified as Lagging (bottom-left quadrant). These counties trailed the statewide average annual local government employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 0.22%) as well as near-term (2022 = 0.70%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual local government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
41% of South Carolina's counties, 19 of 46, are characterized here as Lagging (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
   
 
South Carolina
Local Government Employment Growth
County vs. Statewide Average
 
2010-2022
 
2022
 
 
Leading Counties
 
7
0.62
 
9
2.28
10,293
 
4
1.16
 
2
7.20
5,493
 
11
0.29
 
11
1.73
4,479
 
5
0.70
 
3
3.63
26,797
 
3
1.51
 
4
3.52
13,275
 
8
0.53
 
6
2.93
3,236
 
1
2.64
 
8
2.55
20,568
 
2
1.56
 
7
2.78
10,777
Slipping Counties
 
6
0.63
 
20
0.48
6,894
 
9
0.46
 
40
-6.02
6,119
 
10
0.41
 
27
-0.67
14,738
Gaining Counties
 
22
-0.66
 
17
0.99
512
 
25
-0.78
 
15
1.34
1,658
 
17
-0.27
 
12
1.72
2,714
 
31
-1.62
 
1
8.52
917
 
28
-1.13
 
13
1.63
937
 
26
-0.89
 
16
1.25
3,652
 
27
-1.00
 
10
1.88
1,461
 
36
-2.28
 
14
1.56
1,240
Lagging Counties
 
15
-0.14
 
24
-0.25
1,210
 
16
-0.14
 
32
-1.96
5,301
 
35
-2.25
 
41
-6.18
531
 
12
-0.01
 
28
-0.80
16,151
 
14
-0.11
 
37
-3.23
1,950
 
19
-0.35
 
35
-2.47
1,304
 
18
-0.29
 
30
-1.46
1,555
 
29
-1.49
 
34
-2.11
1,534
 
34
-2.19
 
19
0.58
698
 
33
-1.73
 
25
-0.55
1,086
 
20
-0.41
 
26
-0.65
9,127
 
23
-0.69
 
18
0.62
5,068
 
37
-2.66
 
22
0.18
2,230
 
21
-0.56
 
23
-0.11
2,816
 
13
-0.07
 
38
-3.46
16,363
 
38
-5.13
 
33
-2.04
1,107
 
24
-0.74
 
29
-0.86
1,957
 
30
-1.59
 
39
-4.68
4,151
 
32
-1.67
 
31
-1.92
3,370
Undefined/Suppressed Counties
 
U
U
 
36
-3.01
516
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
21
0.44
1,134
 
U
U
 
S
S
907
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
5
3.47
836
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
0.22
 
0.70
222,878
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-0.11
 
1.96
14,130,000
November 2023
REAP_PI_CA1500N_520320_LSGL
 
   
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