Image by TheDigitelImage by unemployment.jpg The bad news? Charleston has 9 percent unemployment. The good news? South Carolina's rate just rose to 11.6 percent, while ours stayed flat.

We're in one of those confusing economic periods when what you see depends greatly on how you look at things.

So yes, South Carolina's unemployment rate worsened in September after two months of improvements, but it's also true that Charleston County's rate improved just a tad.