Business Climate Abbeville County, South Carolina

Brief Economic Facts

• Abbeville County was #1 in South Carolina for the number of new and expanding businesses in 2001. 

• Abbeville County was #6 in South Carolina for the number of new jobs created in 2001. 

• Despite a sluggish national economy, Abbeville County in 2002 has again experienced a large number of new and expanding businesses and capital investment appears to have increased significantly over that in 2001.

• Abbeville County is home to a number of global corporations including Beverage Air/Carrier (325 employees), Flexible Technologies (500 employees), Milliken (500 employees), Mohawk Industries (450 employees) and Pirelli Cables and Systems (250 employees).  These Abbeville County facilities are often cited as the corporation’s most productive.

• Over 45% of all employment in Abbeville County is in manufacturing.

• There are no unionized companies in Abbeville County.

• Abbeville County offers a number of ideal industrial locations with workforce sizes ranging from 130,000 (Abbeville) to 387,000 (Honea Path) persons within 30-miles of each community.

• The November 2002 labor force for Abbeville and its adjacent counties totaled 379,162 persons with an unemployment rate of 6.0% or 22,669 persons.

• Abbeville County is part of Upstate South Carolina (I-85 Corridor), which has the largest concentration of foreign investment in the nation and a population of over 1,000,000.

• 4-lane highway access is available from Abbeville County industrial locations to Interstates 85 and 26.

• Abbeville County offers some of the highest incentives available in all of South Carolina including property tax abatements, fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreements, corporate income tax credits, and the retention of payroll taxes for the reimbursement of construction costs and/or workforce training.