Darlington County unemployment rises during June

By Chad Rhoad
Editor/ The Messenger
Published: July 25, 2008

According to the numbers released by the South Carolina Workforce Commission recently, unemployment for the South Carolina has fallen slightly for the month of June.

However, unemployment in Darlington and Chesterfield Counties increased somewhat compared to the month of May.

In May, the unemployment rate in Darlington County stood at 7.3 percent. By June, that number rose to 8.2 percent, up nearly 1 percent.

Darlington County had 32,658 persons listed in the workforce, according to S.C. Workforce Commission reports, up 510 workers from May. The number unemployed were 2,662, an increase of 316.

The surge of new workers to the labor force obviously accounted for a large portion of the increase.

Chesterfield County saw an increase of 291 workers to the labor force, which translated to an increase of 197 unemployed workers.

The unemployment rate for the state dropped from a year-to-date high of 6.5 percent in May to 6.2 for the month of June, according to the S.C. Workforce Commission.

The state’s labor force is 2,143,200, down 7,600 from the May level, according to statistics, and the number of unemployed declined 7,000 to 132,000.

The national unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent, the release stated.

The majority of job losses occurred in government and construction.

This takes into account 3,500 job losses as state and local schools released non-teaching staff for summer recess. Construction lost another 3,200 jobs, according to the release, as a result of the continued housing crisis. Construction jobs in South Carolina are running nearly 11 percent lower than the level from a year ago.

On a more positive note, hospitality and leisure services saw an increase of 1,700 jobs in June, while financial activities and other services saw an increase of 900 jobs.

The South Carolina Workforce Commission said that despite the drop in jobless rate, the economy continues to struggle. “With no end in sight to the housing slump and continuing increases in fuel prices, we can expect unemployment rates to remain at a high level for the foreseeable future,” the release said.