South Carolina and Greenville County continue to enjoy low unemployment numbers, according to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW).
It’s all the more notable in the face of higher inflation and tanking consumer confidence, with prices in September 2022 rising by 8.2 percent compared with September 2021. The consumer confidence index is at 102.5, down from 107.8 in September. For reference, it nearly hit 140 in 2018.
Greenville County’s September jobless rate had actually dropped slightly to 2.6% from the previous month. Non-farm job growth has actually increased slightly from this summer, with 4.2% month-over-month growth, that has been improving slightly since December 2021, when the job growth rate was 2.5%.
The state’s unemployment rate edged slightly upward to 3.2% in September 2022, compared with the previous month. The national unemployment rate was 3.5%, with 6.1 million people jobless.
As construction has slowed because of higher interest rates and prices, the number of construction jobs has shown a 2.8% decline.
“South Carolina still has a very tight job market, with businesses eager to hire workers,” said Bryan Grady, labor market information director at DEW.
Grady said the hire rate has continued to outpace the quit rate, suggesting workers are moving within the workforce rather than leaving it. In August 2022, there were 108,000 hires and 81,000 quits. Still, that’s not as strong as the 111,000 hires and 64,000 quits over the same month in 2021.
The economic headwinds continue, however, as Electrolux in Anderson announced it was cutting 3,500 to 4,000 jobs across the company. There’s no word yet as to how many of those cuts would come from its operations in the Upstate.
Percent growth: September 2021 – September 2022
| Percentage | |
| Construction | -2.80% |
| Government | 0.90% |
| Education & health services | 3.20% |
| Professional & business services | 4.50% |
| Manufacturing | 5% |
| Trade, transportation & utilities | 5.60% |
| Finance | 6.30% |
| Leisure & hospitality | 7.10% |
| Other services | 7.50% |
| Natural resources & mining | 9.30% |
| Information | 10.40% |
| Total nonfarm | 4.20% |
Unemployment stats (for September)
- Greenville County unemployment: 2.6%
- Anderson County unemployment: 2.8%
- Spartanburg County unemployment: 2.8%
- Laurens County unemployment: 3.1%
- State unemployment rate: 3.2%
- National unemployment rate: 3.5%
- Initial unemployment claims (week ending Oct. 15): 2,188
- Continued unemployment claims (week ending Oct. 15): 11,252
