Making the best of a bad situation Charlotte- based Duke Energy Corp., trying to avoid layoffs this recession, will freeze salaries for its salaried professionals and its managers, about half of Duke's 18,000 employees. The other half, hourly- paid workers, will not be affected.

Jobless According to the Employment Security Commission of N.C., the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November was 7.9 percent, the highest since 1983. In S.C., the unemployment rate for November was 8.4 percent, the third worst in the U.S. The nation's unemployment rate for November was 6.7 percent.

Losing best customer The S.C. State Ports Authority recently heard from its biggest shipping customer, Denmark- based Maersk, that it will declare its intent to quit the Charleston port entirely by 2011. Maersk makes more than 400 ship calls at the port annually, about 20 percent of the port's container business. The port is owned and operated by the state. The three local chapters of the International Longshoremen's Association refused to allow Maersk to move to a common- user gate operated by SPA employees instead of ILA members. S.C. Governor Sanford suggests the Charleston port should operate like other ports in the country, where the state leases the land to a private company that operates the terminals.

State Medicaid The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services has seen $137 million cut from its budget so far this fiscal year. Since August, 100 jobs have been cut from the department. Washington rumors allow for a $404 million Obama stimulus in federal Medicaid funds for S.C.

DHEC's turn Beginning in January, the staff at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will take five days of unpaid leave as part of budget cuts ordered by the S.C. Budget and Control Board.

Urban jump start As a result of the U.S. Conference of Mayors a couple of weeks ago in Washington, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has issued a wish list of $1.07 billion worth of infrastructure projects for Charleston funded by the federal government. Dallas is requesting $1.2 billion and Phoenix, $1.4 billion. Columbia has asked for $374 million. Upstate cities - to include Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson - haven't listed any projects and haven't filed any funding requests.

Growth or lack thereof At 0.4%, S.C. ranked 44th in the U.S. for personal income growth in the third quarter. Wyoming was 1st at 1.4%, the highest personal income growth in the country. Mississippi was at the bottom, - 1.6%.

Commerce gives and commerce taketh away The 360- employee Continental auto parts plant in Blythewood will close in 2010, as will Continental's 80- employee engineering facility in Columbia. Continental cited slowing auto sales. Less than a mile away, also in Blythewood, Koyo Corp. recently announced a $30 million expansion of its auto parts plant, but that does not include any addition to its 220- person workforce.

Cigarette taxes The six major tobacco states in the U.S. - N.C., Ky., Tenn., Va., S.C., and Ga. - average 35.5 cents per pack in sales taxes, while the national average is $1.11 per pack. Since 2002, 44 states and D.C. have increased their cigarette taxes. S.C.'s 7 cents per pack is the lowest tax in the U.S., but Gov. Sanford vetoed a 50- cent per pack increase, according to the Associated Press. More recently, Sanford has advocated raising the tax by 30 cents per pack to partially offset a phase- out of the state's 5% corporate income tax.

Venture capital Managers of the seed money for start- up companies, venture capital, see 2009 as a continuation of their slowdown. The National Venture Capital Association's 400 survey respondents (polled Nov. 24 to Dec. 12) see a recovery in 2010 when the opportunities for initial public offerings in the stock market should be expanding. Ninety- two percent of the survey respondents expect returns on venture capital to decline even further over the next three to five years, while 83 percent see the doldrums lasting twice that long - up to ten years.