Myrtle Beach area's winter takes toll on jobs

The jobless rates in Horry and Georgetown counties jumped in November, as they typically do during the slowest time of year for businesses along the Grand Strand.

In Horry County, the unemployment rate rose 1.3 percentage points to 11.8 percent in November, according to data released Friday by the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. The Georgetown County unemployment rate jumped 1 percentage point to 11.7 percent.

South Carolina's jobless rate dropped for the third consecutive month to 10.6 percent in November, from 10.7 percent in October. Horry County has the 24th worst unemployment rate in the state's 46 counties. Georgetown County has the 25th worst. Horry County had a larger jump in the unemployment rate in November than any other county in the state.

"Our unemployment this time of year is always higher because we are a tourism-driven economy," said Robert Salvino, a research economist at Coastal Carolina University.

He said the best way to get a good measure of how the job market is doing is to compare November's numbers with the past few years.

In November, 114,189 Horry County workers had a job, compared with 110,938 who had a job in November 2009. The number of workers with a job isn't quite back to the level it was in 2008, but has made good improvement, Salvino said.

"That's a pretty big difference in employment," he said. "Last year was the deepest part of the recession. We are going to get out of the recession, but it's going to take time."

The national unemployment rate rose from 9.6 percent in October to 9.8 percent in November, in part because of an expanding labor force.

Statewide in November, 2,610 more people found jobs and the number of unemployed people dropped by 1,160. Since the beginning of the year, the state's unemployment rate has dropped nearly two percentage points.

There was a drop of 3,700 non-agricultural jobs in November, including 3,600 private sector jobs and 100 government jobs. Manufacturing gained 500 jobs, retail gained about 1,400 jobs, and professional and business services gained about 1,600 jobs. Hospitality jobs and construction jobs had the largest declines, with a loss of 7,100 jobs in the hospitality industry and 2,200 construction jobs.

The hospitality industry and the construction industry are typically the big employers on the Grand Strand, so a drop in those jobs will mean more people out of work, said Mary Nell Smith, the area director of the Coastal Workforce Center in Conway.

The Coastal Workforce Center was especially busy on Friday, with those out of work calling to find out about the unemployment extensions signed into law by President Obama as part of the tax-cut bill on Friday. Those extra calls are on top of what is usually a busy time for the office, with more seasonally unemployed workers coming in.

"We always go up now as things start shutting down for the winter months," Smith said. "It's not a surprise for us."

The number of unemployed people making unemployment claims is similar to last year, she said.

"I don't think it'll change. I don't think it will rebound quickly," Smith said.

The agency hasn't helped any companies with mass hires, rather just helping fill a few openings, and fewer newly employed workers are letting the agency know they have found a job.

While unemployment typically picks up in the off season, Smith said last year employers waited well into the spring to rehire as they waited to see how many tourists would come to the beach. Despite a strong tourism year this year, Smith said she still expects companies to wait before hiring back workers.

There is still a lot of worry and concern among the unemployed, she said, especially with those that may have taken a hospitality job while waiting for a position in their field to open up.

"Some of these people, the jobs they had this past year were not what they normally did," Smith said. "They're really concerned when jobs will come back to this area."