South Carolina’s Employment Situation March 2013

April 19, 2013 – South Carolina’s seasonally-adjusted unemploymentrate decreased to 8.4 percent in March from February’s rate of 8.6percent. The number of employed persons was 1,992,113, and theunemployed totaled 182,978, which is the lowest level since October of2008.

From February to March, the state’s labor force saw a minor decline to2,175,091. Nationally, the unemployment rate fell from 7.7 percent inFebruary to 7.6 percent in March.

Employment by Industry
Non-farm jobs (not seasonally adjusted) in the state increased 18,200 from February to March to a total of 1,875,200.

• Leisure and Hospitality reported a large gain (+9,800) as thetourist season gears up. The largest part of the increase was felt inthe Accommodation and Food Service subsector. Improvements in March were also reported in Professional and Business Services (+2,600; mostly inthe Employment Services subsector); Government (+2,200; generally inLocal Government); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+1,900; mainlyin Retail Trade); and Financial Activities (+1,600). Smaller increaseswere seen in Other Services (+700) and Manufacturing (+600).
• Three industries reported losses: Construction (-400; primarily inSpecialty Trade Contractors), Information (-400), and Education andHealth Services (-400; mostly in Healthcare and Social Assistance).

Since March 2012, non-farm jobs in the state have increased 24,700. Thelargest over-the-year rise was in Leisure and Hospitality (+11,300),followed by Government (+5,700); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities(+4,400); and Financial Activities (+4,200).

• Increases in Manufacturing (+1,400) and Construction (+1,000) also helped push growth.
• A large drop in the last year was reported in Professional and Business Services (-4,100).