South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment remained unchanged at 8.1 percent for July and August. The number has changed little since August.
There were 175,602 unemployed South Carolinians in August and an estimated total labor force of 2,161,811. The number of employed fell 1,526 over the month to 1,986,209.
The state Department of Employment and Workforce said a small increase of 600 from July to August pushed seasonally adjusted, non-farm payroll employment in South Carolina to a year-high level of 1,890,200. This over-the-month change was the lowest employment increase since June 2013.
Again, the most job growth came in professional and business services with an additional 1,100 jobs. Manufacturing, which has declined the pervious month, saw an increase of 900 jobs.
Financial activities; leisure and hospitality; education and health services; and construction all saw declines.
Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent from July’s estimate of 7.4 percent. The labor participation rate, which affects the unemployment rate, dropped to 63.2 percent nationally in August, its lowest point since August 1978. State labor participation figures were not available.
