SC unemployment rate rises for 1st time since April as COVID cases spike across state
After seven months of falling, South Carolina’s unemployment rate rose slightly last month, Department of Employment and Workforce officials announced Friday.
A total of 102,186 people were estimated to be out of work and looking for a job in November, for a 4.4% unemployment rate, compared to October’s rate of 4.2%. An additional 1,642 people were unemployed last month.
The numbers are nowhere close to April’s peak of 12.8%, after hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians found themselves out of work due to the pandemic. The numbers improved over subsequent months, but now, COVID-19 cases are spiking around the state, reaching a record high of 3,648 cases Friday.
The state’s labor force, DEW announced, shrank by an estimated 62,201 people. The labor force includes unemployed people looking for work and people working, indicating that tens of thousands left work without intending to immediately return. The state’s labor force is now estimated at 2,325,535 — the lowest number this year.
Unemployment tends to increase in colder months, when those with outdoor jobs may be least likely to work. In addition, the winter puts a damper on South Carolina’s powerful tourism industry.
But the United States went in the opposite direction of the state last month, with unemployment dropping from 6.9% in October to 6.7% in November.
The trends are causing some alarm for state officials.
“One thing our agency has noticed over the past several months is a decrease in people applying for jobs in SC Works Online Services (SCWOS),” DEW director Dan Ellzey said in a statement. “This trend is concerning when there are approximately 80,000 posted positions in the system. 80,000 jobs that represent a diverse set of skills and a variety of educational requirements.”
Ellzey also extolled the benefits of finding a good job over relying on unemployment benefits.
“There are very good jobs out there with benefits and salaries that can help provide better financial stability than unemployment insurance ever could,” he said. “And, most jobs provide medical benefits, something no one gets with unemployment benefits.”
But those relying on federal unemployment benefits won’t be able to much longer. On Dec. 26, two federal unemployment insurance programs — Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides payments to the self-employed, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides 13 additional weeks of benefits to people who have exhausted their state benefits — will expire. Congress has not been able to reach a deal for a new relief package since the CARES Act’s $600 weekly benefits expired in July.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 4:11 PM with the headline "SC unemployment rate rises for 1st time since April as COVID cases spike across state."
