S.C. Unemployment hits 11.4% -- highest rate in decades

Image by Ken Hawkins/Data from Bureau of Labor StatisticsImage by unemployment.jpg Unemployment for South Carolina.

In March, South Carolina observed its highest unemployment rate in recent memory: 11.4%

Online tracking data for South Carolina goes back to 1976 and in no month was the rate equal; coming the closest in January 1983.

Read more stories on this subject in our unemployment topic page.On the upside, the state gained nearly 7,000 jobs in March -- they were mainly focused on the  leisure/hospitality and retail industries. Meanwhile manufacturing and construction lost 2,900 and 1,600 jobs, respectively.

In all, South Carolina had 94,000 fewer jobs than a year ago.

The Charleston metro still faired relatively well with a 9.1% unemployment -- it's flabbergasting how that is a good thing.

Below is a table of the most recent results, but for loads more info hop over to the S.C. Employment Security Commission's press release.

County March Feb. Change
1 Allendale 22.3 23.3 -1.0
2 Marion 21.1 21.8 -0.7
3 Chester 20.6 20.7 -0.1
...
35 Berkeley 10.2 10.2 0.0
36 Jasper 10.1 10.5 -0.4
37 Edgefield 9.9 10.9 -1.0
Pickens 9.9 9.7 0.2
39 Dorchester 9.7 9.8 -0.1
...
43 Aiken 8.6 9.4 -0.8
Beaufort 8.6 8.6 0.0
45 Charleston 8.4 8.2 0.2
46 Lexington 7.9 7.8 0.1