More enter job market; push up state’s unemployment rate

Nearly every county in the Upstate had its unemployment rate rise in March, something state officials said was due to more people entering the job market.

In March, Greenville County’s unemployment rate went up 0.1 percent to 4.7 percent.

Spartanburg and Anderson counties’ unemployment rates each jumped 0.1 percent in March to 5.3 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. Pickens County’s jobless rate jumped 0.2 percent to 5.6 percent, while Oconee County’s remained at 5.8 percent.

The Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area also saw an increase of 0.1 percent to 5.0.

The Upstate’s unemployment rate jump mirrors what’s happening in South Carolina and nationwide. South Carolina’s unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent in March, up from 5.5 percent for the first rise in the unemployment rate since September 2014. Nationwide, the unemployment rate is 5.0 percent.

Nearly 18,000 more people had a job or started looking for one in March in South Carolina, the largest one-month increase in the state’s labor force ever, according to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

For the detailed report, go to bit.ly/March-SC-DEW.

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