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Trident United Way

Recession Over?

Final Tally:
Almost 13,000 More People
Unemployed in Lowcountry

Using its powerful new Community Issues Management tool (CIM), Trident United Way has found that nearly 13,000 more people are unemployed today than the year before.

CIM is a robust aggregator and analyzer of information that comes from hundreds of sources, including governments, hospitals, United Ways and other community organizations.

Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke has declared the national recession over, though he admitted that job growth will lag. The unemployment is nearly 11% in Berkeley County, over 9% in Charleston County and over 10% in Dorchester County, and the total number of employed people is down dramatically.

That’s 13,000 families that are suffering and may be in need of community support. In addition, with median earnings of $35,776, those lost jobs cost our community half-a-billion dollars above “normal” unemployment.

Area non-profits have seen the fallout. The number of people using food pantries increased 40% this year. Calls for housing counseling spiked 50%.

CIM tracks changes in data as they are measured and can combine data sets to reveal new insights. Trident United Way leads a national coalition of United Ways and other community organizations developing CIM and populating it with information.