The S.C. Department of Commerce reported that new business recruitment and expansion of existing businesses generated $5.4 billion in capital investment and 15,457 jobs last year.
The manufacturing sector comprised 68 percent of new jobs and 82 percent of capital investment last year, with 10,442 jobs and $4.5 billion in investment recruited in 2013. More than half of those dollars, $2.8 billion, came from expansions of existing businesses.
That mirrors the national trend of growth in the manufacturing sector with a strong finish in 2013, which showed record highs compared with 2010 and 2011, according to various measurements from the Institute for Supply Management and the Federal Reserve Board.
“South Carolina has proven its place as a manufacturing powerhouse as we outpace our neighboring states in manufacturing GDP,” said state Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt in a release from the governor’s office. “While we build on this track record, we continue to diversify our development strategy, with focus on technology and innovation, life sciences and logistics-related fields to grow the state’s economy.”
The governor also noted that more than 3,800 jobs went to rural areas, and more than a quarter of new jobs were tied to foreign companies.
