Existing Industry News

In an effort to provide readers with a more personal, inside look at the people who make up our team here at S.C. Commerce, we’re excited to continue our ‘Getting to Know’ series. Featuring interviews with various members of the agency’s staff, we hope this segment offers a unique perspective from some of the state’s top economic developers.

The aerospace industry is truly soaring in the Palmetto State. In 2016, the University of South Carolina (USC) Darla Moore School of Business released a study showing that the industry has a $19 billion annual economic impact on South Carolina.

Comprised of more than 400 firms, life sciences has become one of South Carolina’s top industries. With an annual impact of more than $11.4 billion each year, this burgeoning sector employs approximately 15,000 workers across the state.

Over the last several decades, as South Carolina has transformed, becoming a global leader in advanced manufacturing and international trade, a complementary industry has developed across the state -- logistics.

Although many members of Team South Carolina’s aerospace contingent are more than 4,000 miles away this week participating in the Farnborough International Airshow, S.C. Commerce and its allies have already begun preparing for the industry’s next major event – the 2018 S.C. Aerospace Conference and Expo.

On June 13, Team South Carolina attended the grand opening of Blackbaud's new, state-of-the-art headquarters facility in Berkeley County. Announced in 2016, the $150 million project is expected to generate 300 new jobs. 

In July 2016, S.C. Commerce formed a partnership with the S.C. Biotechnology Industry Organization (SCBIO) to determine the footprint of the life sciences sector in South Carolina.

In the first quarter of 2018, the state of South Carolina exported more than $300 million in plastics, a 12 percent increase, year-over-year. Accounting for more than $1.1 billion of the state’s export sales total in 2017, South Carolina’s plastics industry is critical to the health of the state’s economy.  

South Carolina’s history as a textiles powerhouse is well-documented. In the early 20th century, more than 40 percent of the state’s farmland produced cotton; and, by the 1930s, the states of North and South Carolina were home to the nation’s two largest textile industries.

In May, approximately 3.7 million United States businesses nationwide, including those in U.S. territories, will receive information by mail with instructions to participate in the 2017 Economic Census. Conducted every five years, the Economic Census is the U.S. government’s official measure of American business and the economy.