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By Lewis Gossett
The year 2003 proved to be another difficult year for South Carolina textile and apparel manufacturers and for South Carolina manufacturing in general.
During the past 12 months, manufacturing employment in South Carolina fell 6.5 percent from 289,800 to 270, 900, a loss of 18,900 jobs.
Total textile and apparel manufacturing employment in South Carolina declined by 7.5 percent from 62,600 to 57,900.
In specific sectors in South Carolina, textile mill employment dropped 8.2 percent from 44,700 to 41,000. Textile product mill employment stayed relatively stable, falling by only 2.8 percent from 10,900 to 10,600. Apparel manufacturing employment was the hardest hit, falling 10.0 percent from 7,000 to 6,300.
These jobs losses contributed to the unprecedented third straight year of overall job loss in South Carolina. During the past 12 months, South Carolina has suffered -2.6 percent job loss, the highest in the United States. Employment in Columbia, the state capital, fell by -4.0 percent, also the highest job loss of any metro area in the United States.
To combat these dispiriting job losses, the South Carolina Manufacturers Association (SCMA) has worked hard to boost its legislative efforts.
At the federal level, SCMA joined the textile coalition supporting the invocation of the special textile China safeguard. Unfair competition from China has severely damaged South Carolina's textile industry. Imports from China continued to surge in 2003.
SCMA strongly supports the filing of additional special textile China safeguard petitions in 2004. SCMA would also encourage the U.S. government to negotiate a comprehensive textile bilateral agreement with China to obviate the need for additional safeguard petitions filings in 2005.
Without a comprehensive textile bilateral or without a clear signal of the intention to make blanket use of the special textile China safeguard in 2005, SCMA expects a substantial loss of domestic textile orders to China beginning in late 2004. The result of such a drop off could lead to an immediate and catastrophic job loss shortly thereafter.
SCMA also supported the textile coalition's opposition to a concept known as "carryforward." Carryforward is a provision contained in most of our textile trade agreements that allows an importer to borrow a specific amount from next year's quota for use in the current year.
This borrowing feature is reconciled by a reduction of an equal amount from the future or donor year quota. Carryforward should be strictly forbidden in 2004 due to the fact that there will be no quotas to borrow from or reconcile in 2005.
Among other top SCMA textile legislative priorities in 2004 is the defeat of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This deal expected to move 500 to 700 million square meters of U.S. fabric production offshore and thereby force the close of at least 10 to 15 textile mills nationwide. SCMA will also oppose any other trade agreements that encourage South Carolina manufacturing to move offshore.
At the state level, SCMA has worked tirelessly to win comprehensive tort reform. At the time of this writing, our bill has passed the House and is pending in the Senate. We have also led the fight to restore the employment at-will doctrine to the South Carolina workplace, thereby ending judicially created exceptions to this long-held principle in our state's work places.
Final passage is, we believe, imminent in the Senate. Finally, we have successfully stopped efforts to repeal manufacturers' tax exemptions and we have spearheaded a number of pro-business environmental bills. Our legislative session ends in June, so we have much left to do this year to continue promoting manufacturing interests in the General Assembly.
2003 was a tough year. But SCMA has already rolled up its sleeves and is working hard in 2004. Let us hope this year will be better than the last.
Lewis Gossett is president of the South Carolina Manufacturers Association, Columbia, SC.
