State jobless rate rose to 5.7% in March

South Carolina’s unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in March, following an unexpected drop to 5.5 percent in February, the state Employment Security Commission said Friday.

The agency also called the South Carolina's short-term economic outlook "uncertain at best."

The number of unemployed in March grew by 7,000 to 123,000. The building trade, which is being affected by the housing slowdown and shrunk by 500 positions last month, was the only major employment sector to see a decline. March was the fifth straight month that construction jobs have declined.

Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties continued to have some of the lowest jobless rates in the state, at 4.2 percent, 5.1 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

The number of non-farm jobs in the state grew a modest 14,900 in March, boosted by a seasonal jump of 8,200 in the leisure and hospitality industry, which benefited from the start of the tourism activity.

Other notable gains: professional and business Services (+1,900); government (+1,800); and retailing (+1,400).

The uptick in March jobless rate was anticipated, said Roosevelt T. Halley, the commission's executive director.

“The big decline in the February rate was largely the result of an atypical trend in the household survey used to tabulate the numbers,” he said in a statement.

That aberration prompted Gov. Mark Sanford to question the reliability of the method used to calculate the unemployment figure.

The overall job count, at 1,949,600, was 10,000 above the year-ago level.

"South Carolina’s economic outlook is uncertain at best," the commission said. "High gas prices, the subprime mortgage crisis and continuing discussions of a possible recession are impacting job growth."

The agency said the level of job growth "remains below the norm for this time of year," adding that projected gains in tourism-related jobs should provide some relief over the next few months.

The national unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent in March from 4.8 percent.