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S.C. unemployment rate soars
Staff reports
Friday, September 19, 2008
South Carolina's unemployment rate jumped to 7.6 percent in August, the highest rate since May 1993 and the fifth-highest in the nation last month.
By county
In July, the rate climbed to 7.0 percent, raising concerns among local economists.
Between July and August, the number of people out of work in South Carolina increased by almost 14,000 to a total of 165,450.
The state's Employment Security Commission blamed continued layoffs in the manufacturing and construction sectors for the increase.
Nationally, the jobless rate in August was 6.1 percent.
Read more in Saturday's edition of The Post and Courier.
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Comments
This article has 10 comment(s)
Posted by Tammie on September 19, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That's sad. As much as my job gets on my nerves, thank God I have one!
Posted by eyfigueroa on September 19, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yet we still have all of this development/construction going on.
How do these people live if there aren't any new jobs and subdvivision keep popping up?
Posted by ashleyatwork on September 19, 2008 at 11:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
eyfig
We are wondering the same thing. And I see so much new construction and people moving in Im starting to think all this glum and doom is media hype.
Posted by mkris on September 19, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Most of the construction is a result of plans developed during the boom. The retirees are not coming, they can't sel thier homes in the north. The new manufacturing (BMW) has reduced the numbers of cars built as a result of lessened demand.
There are going to be LOTS of developers going under.
Posted by guidedbystewart on September 19, 2008 at 1:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does this really surprise anybody??
Posted by USC_Alumni on September 19, 2008 at 3:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Illegal immigration isn't the reason why people don't have jobs; people who EMPLOY illegal immigrants are the reason why people don't have jobs. If you don't employ them they won't come. I don't see how you can blame a person who WANTS to work.
South Carolina has one of the smallest state population in the nation, but 5th highest in the nation for unemployment. At the bottom in education and at the top in crime.
Seems to me that companies don't want to place their offices or relocate in a state where education is bad and crime is high which results in high unemploment.
Improved education results in better oppurtunities, which in turn reduces crime and unemployment. Hey but what do I know? I left South Carolina for better oppurtunities in 1997 and only return to see family, fish and crab.
Quite desperation is the South Carolina way.
Posted by guidedbystewart on September 19, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"South Carolina has one of the smallest state population in the nation, but 5th highest in the nation for unemployment. At the bottom in education and at the top in crime."
...actually SC is in the middle based on population, according to 2007 estimates we were 24th in population in the nation with 26 States ahving less population than us, recently passing Louisiana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S...
Posted by guidedbystewart on September 19, 2008 at 4:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
...also, are those numbers based on percentages or actual jobless numbers? The article did not make it specific.
Posted by USC_Alumni on September 19, 2008 at 4:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
...actually SC is in the middle based on population, according to 2007 estimates we were 24th in population in the nation with 26 States ahving less population than us, recently passing Louisiana.
And the states we've passed are small population states. There is more people in the metro Atlanta area than in the entire state of South Carolina.
Take a look at the states around South Carolina.
North Carolina over 9 mil
Tenneesee over 6 Mil
Gerogia over 9 mil
Florida over 18 mil
4 million people in a state isn't big. And yet ranking high in crime and unemployment, and can't properly educate the small amount of students in the state.
Posted by Zarathustra on September 19, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting headline I saw
DOW UP 40 POINTS IN PAST MONTH... UP 18% PAST 5 YEARS... UP 44% PAST 10 YEARS...