South Carolina’s unemployment rate increased slightly from November to December 2022, the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce announced in its monthly report.
Based on an employer survey conducted by the agency, nonagricultural positions declined by 5,600 jobs between the two months.
That dip in the number of job positions was an anomaly when compared to the entirety of the year prior — the state gained 71,700 jobs between December 2021 and December 2022. The areas experiencing growth included:
- Leisure and hospitality
- Trade, transportation and utilities
- Professional and business services
- Education and health services
- Manufacturing
- Financial activities
- Government
- Information
Despite the slight dip at the end of the year, employment analysts have not expressed concerns about the overall health of the job market, calling it a fairly typical result of seasonal trends.
“Due to the influx of seasonal employment that occurs in December and January of every year, we naturally see a rise in unemployment claims as those temporary holiday jobs end,” said SC DEW Executive Director Dan Ellzey. “It is cyclical and temporary.”
The state also ended 2022 with an unemployment rate of 3.3% and nearly 99,000 jobs posted in SC Works Online Services, while the national unemployment rate for December was 3.5%, Ellzey said.
