Image by Flickr user Kelly B.
After more than 10 months of declines, South Carolina's unemployment rate ticked up in May, along with a bigger increase in the Charleston area.
In April the unemployment rate was 8.8%, moving to 9.1% in May for South Carolina and increasing in all but two counties (Marlboro and York).
The Charleston metro area edged up from 7.0% to 7.9% as the metro area's employment dropped by 1,000 jobs and the workforce increased by 2,000. That situation carried throughout the state, the number of unemployed increased by 5,861 to 195,905 and the jobs decreased by 3,886 to 1,957,360.
On the county level:
- Charleston County: Increase from 6.9% to 7.8%
- Dorchester County: Increase from 6.8% to 7.7%
- Berkeley County: Increase from 7.4% to 8.5%
Nationally, the unemployment rate increased slightly from 8.1% in April to 8.2%, with about 642,000 people entering the labor force in May.
You can read the SC Department of Employment and Workforce's full news release on South Carolina's jobs below.
