The unemployment rate in South Carolina rose to 8.7 percent from a revised December 2012 rate of 8.6 percent in January 2013, but nearly 27,000 more people in the Palmetto State were working in January 2013 compared to January 2012, according to numbers released Monday by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
The North Charleston Patch reports only the Information sector of the state’s economy saw job gains in January 2013, adding approximately 600 jobs in industries across the sector statewide.
Leading the declines were the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector with approximately 9,600 fewer jobs and the Government sector with approximately 8,500 fewer jobs. The Professional and Business Services sector lost approximately 5,300; the Leisure and Hospitality sector lost approximately 4,800 jobs; the Education and Health Services sector lost approximately 2,600 jobs; Construction lost approximately 1,300 jobs; the Financial Activities sector lost approximately 1,200; and Manufacturing shrank by approximately 400 jobs, according to a SCDEW report.
However compared to January 2012 numbers the state is better off overall with approximately 27,000 more people employed than at the beginning of last year (1,839,400 people employed at the end of January 2013 vs. 1,808,300 people employed at the end of January 2012). The number of unemployed South Carolinians stood at 188,496 at the end of January 2013.
South Carolina initially reported an unemployment rate of 8.4 percent in December 2012, but that number was revised upward to 8.6 percent by the Bureau of Labor Statistics after more information and economic data became available.
The Charleston/North Charleston Metro Area saw approximately 4,800 jobs disappear between the end of December 2012 and the end of January 2013, a negative change of 1.57 percent for the area’s local unemployment rate. However measured against January 2012 numbers the Charleston/North Charleston Metro area still had approximately 4,100 more people employed than a year ago.
The only South Carolina counties that posted a decline in their unemployment rates were Marlboro County, where the rate dropped to 15.8 percent from 16.4 percent, and Chesterfield County where the rate dropped to 12.2 percent from 12.5 percent.
Charleston County recorded the third lowest county-wide unemployment rate in the state at 7.2 percent for January 2013, tied with Dorchester County. Roughly 164,000 members of the county’s 176,671-member-strong labor force were employed at the end of January 2013, leaving approximately 12,637 unemployed. Read More.
