TATT Chat Recap – Economic Update 1.13

    Jan 13, 2022 | Staying on Top, Uncategorized

    Welcome                                                                                            

    David Feild, TATT Chairman

    Economic Update – Video recap linked here | Presentation linked here

    Scott Baier, Professor and Department Chair of the John E. Walker Department of Economics within the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business at Clemson University Questions:

    1. Do you have stats on DTC Retail vs brick & mortar sales? – Stronger growth in DTC with brick & mortar slower to rebound.
    2. Is that also stimulated by inheritance – funds from deceased family?
    3. Is this unemployment national or state? – Answered in presentation
    4. Are those 3 MM lost jobs the ones that people have left the labor force completely?  Are these a certain sector of people?  Are some just retiring? – Answered in presentation
    5. If we seem to see so many companies advertising for workers, why does the employment number not rebound back toward the 131k number? – Answered in presentation
    6. Any metrics/categories come to mind where SC trends differ from the national trends?  Either good or bad? – SC is trending with national numbers, and in some cases, SC is a bit ahead. Before the pandemic, SC numbers were better than the national average. Scott says it’s a continuation of SC being a place people want to be.
    7. Does this analysis show that the idea of a universal basic income that has been proposed by Andrew Yang and others, would likely hurt GDP growth and be inherently inflationary? – “Devil is always in the details.” It all depends on how it’s introduced: as a substitute for another entitlement programs, it would possibly help GDP. If it’s in addition to those programs, it would be more inflationary.

    Resource Update             

    Rhonda Rawlings, Village Launch – Village Launch is an enterprise under Mill Village ministries to equip under-resourced entrepreneurs to help get word out about their business. There is a 10-week academy, 3-week get started workshops, 3rd Thursday market for women and minority owned businesses to build clientele. The VL mentorship program is to have 1 mentor per entrepreneur. Mentors attend the 10-week academy as well. Please contact for opportunities: Rhonda Rawlings (rhonda@millcommunity.org or 914-325-2187).             

    Larry Block, SCORE – SCORE is a group of mentors, with varying skill sets, to help entrepreneurs or relatively new business owners navigate the business world. Currently, the Upstate SCORE chapter does not have minority or female mentors. Please contact for opportunities: https://piedmont.score.org/ .         Adjourn                                                                                                          

    David Feild