State jobless rate up in October

With nearly 3,000 South Carolina manufacturing jobs disappearing last month, the October unemployment rate edged up slightly to 5.8 percent from September but stayed well below the October 2006 figure of 6.6 percent.

The uptick — the fourth in the past five months — suggests that factors such as the housing slowdown are affecting job growth, said Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wachovia Corp.

"It's not much of a story, but the South Carolina economy is cooling off along with the rest of the country," Vitner said.

While public and private payrolls added an estimated 8,900 jobs last month, the mix of gains and losses in various sectors resulted in 2,100 more South Carolinians becoming unemployed, the Employment Security Commission said Tuesday.

Almost half the new jobs were attributed in large part to hiring at state and local schools, which beefed up their non-teaching support staff. The private sector saw notable gains in health care, trade, transportation, utilities and business services.

Despite the housing slowdown, construction payrolls expanded by about 500 jobs last month compared to September, but they were off by 300 positions from October of last year. Vitner said employment in the building trades will likely decline in the months ahead, barring a sudden real estate rebound.

"Right now, we're seeing pretty substantial slowdown in residential construction along the coast that's causing job growth to slow along the coast," he said.

But the weaker U.S. dollar should attract more visitors and foreign investment to the Palmetto State, he said.

South Carolina was tied with the District of Columbia for the nation's fifth-highest jobless rate last month. Michigan again had the highest unemployment, at 7.7 percent, followed by Mississippi and Alaska — both at 6.1 percent — and Ohio at 5.9 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nationally, unemployment held steady at 4.7 percent.

Charleston and Dorchester counties had the second- and third-lowest jobless rates in the state last month, unchanged at 4.6 and 4.7 percent, respectively. Berkeley County slipped to 5 from 5.1 percent.

Marion County had the state's highest unemployment rate at 11 percent. Lexington County recorded the state's lowest jobless rate at 4.4 percent.

Heading into the holiday season, forecasters predicted that South Carolina would see steady increases in employment, as retailers hire part-time and seasonal workers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.