Unemployment rate rises in December

Chester County's unemployment rate jumped in December and the number of employed persons declined slightly.
For the month, Chester had an unemployment rate of 15.1 percent, up from a seasonally-adjusted 14.2 percent in November. That gave Chester the sixth highest unemployment rate in the state. In December, 12,180 people in the county were employed, down from the 12,197 people employed in the month of November. The number of people who were unemployed, seeking work and collecting unemployment compensation was also up, going from 2,015 in November to 2,166 in December. That led to a rise in the total workforce, which includes the employed and those collecting unemployment compensation. In November the total workforce stood at 14,212, but that rose to 14,346.
One year ago, 12,094 people in Chester County were employed, 2,611 were collecting unemployment compensation and the unemployment rate was at 17.8 percent.
Neighboring counties also remained in the top half of the state's unemployment rankings. Union County was in fourth place at 15.5 percent, Lancaster was 13th (13.4), Cherokee was 14th at 12.9 percent, Fairfield came in at 17th (12.5 percent) and York was 19th at 12.3 percent.
Marion had the state's highest rate at 17.5 percent, followed by Allendale (17.3 percent), Marlboro (17.3 percent), Union and Barnwell (15.3).
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in December, a 0.4 percentage point drop from November’s 9.9 percent rate. This marks the fourth consecutive monthly rate drop and is down 1.6 percent from 2011’s high of 11.1 percent in August.
It is the lowest rate since December 2008 when unemployment stood at 9.2 percent. The national unemployment rate saw a decrease from 8.7 percent in November to 8.5 percent in December.
The labor force declined 3,227 from November to December while the number of employed grew by 4,307, and the number of unemployed fell by 7,534. This is the highest number of employed and the lowest number of unemployed during 2011. The labor force level was 2,162,094 in December.
Non-farm payroll employment dropped 3,800 from November to December but is up 17,800 from a year ago.
“We are excited to see unemployment continue its steady decline in South Carolina,” said SC Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Abraham J. Turner. “This is good news for South Carolinians, but there is still much work to be done as we continue to bring unemployment down. We encourage both businesses and job seekers to take advantage of the free services DEW offers through the SC Works centers across the state and online at www.scworks.org. At this website, citizens can search for openings in their communities and upload their resumes. Additionally, employers can search for qualified candidates.”
Contributing to the statewide drop in unemployment was month-to-month increases in trade, transportation and utilities (+1,500) and Manufacturing (+1,200). Manufacturing has increased 11,600 from last year. The growth in trade, transportation and utilities was mainly from retail trade, with durable goods primarily driving the gain in manufacturing. leisure and hospitality reported a loss (-3,500), and government reflected a decrease (-2,800) since November.