South Carolina’s Employment Situation January 2013

Unemployment rate up slightly in January; Nearly 27,000 more people working than a year ago

COLUMBIA, SC – March 18, 2013 – The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in South Carolina increased slightly from the revised rate of 8.6 percent in December 2012 to 8.7 percent in January 2013, mirroring the trend of the U.S. rate. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose slightly from 7.8 percent in December 2012 to 7.9 percent in January 2013.

In South Carolina, the number of employed persons increased to 1,987,765, and unemployed persons numbered 188,496 in January. Since January 2012, employment has increased 26,840.

Employment by Industry

In terms of industry sectors, the nonagricultural job count (not seasonally adjusted) in the state dropped 33,900 from December 2012 to January 2013, landing at 1,839,400. This decline is a typical trend for the December-to-January time period due to seasonal layoffs and school closings between terms.

• Only the Information sector saw a gain (+600) in January.
• Industries reporting losses were: Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (-9,600), Government (-8,500), Professional and Business Services (-5,300), Leisure and Hospitality (-4,800), Education and Health Services (-2,600), Construction (-1,300), Financial Activities (-1,200), and Manufacturing (-400).

During 2012, non-farm jobs in the state were up 31,100. These annual gains came from Leisure and Hospitality (+9,800); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+6,900); Government (+6,500); Manufacturing (+3,000); Financial Activities (+2,800); and Construction (+2,600). Education and Health Services saw no change over the year while Professional and Business Services (-2,000) and Mining and Logging (-100) dropped.

NOTE:  What does a revised rate mean?

Annually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics re-estimates labor force data to take advantage of the latest available information related to unemployment claims, nonfarm employment, population changes, and other data used in generating the estimates through a process called benchmarking. After re-estimation, December’s unemployment rate for 2012 was revised from 8.4 percent to 8.6 percent.