Pee Dee’s unemployment rate drops, state’s rate rises
Charles Tomlinson/Morning News
Published: April 18, 2008
POST YOUR COMMENTPublished: April 18, 2008
Click here for Pee Dee county unemployment rates
The Pee Dee’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.4 percent in March from 7.9 percent in February, according to the most recent statistics from the S.C. Employment Security Commission.
The state’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose slightly to 5.7 percent in March after falling sharply in February. During the same time, the national unemployment rate increased from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent.
The state’s leisure and hospitality jobs made a seasonal jump of 8,200 in March because of warmer weather and increased tourism, according to the commission.
“The caveats with that are the higher gas prices” that could discourage people from traveling, said Sam McClary, senior analyst with the commission.
Gasoline prices, along with the subprime mortgage crisis and talk of a recession, have hurt job growth, according to the commission.
“Where it goes from here, we have to wait and see,” McClary said.
Florence had the Pee Dee’s lowest March unemployment rate, 5.9 percent, while Marion County had the region’s highest rate, 11.6 percent.
Marion County, for the second month in a row, also had the state’s second highest unemployment rate, after Allendale County.
Both Florence and Marion counties’ rates, however, have dropped since February.
Marlboro County, at 10.1 percent, had the state’s fourth highest unemployment rate, while Williamsburg was at No. 8 with a 9.2 rate, tied with Union County.
Dillon County had the state’s 11th highest rate, 8.7 percent.
Chesterfield and Darlington counties had rates of 7.3 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.
Other notable statewide job gains in March included 1,900 additional jobs in business services, 1,800 in government and 1,400 in retail trade.
Construction, hampered by a nationwide housing slump, lost 500 jobs in March and was the only major industry sector to lose jobs during the month.
The state’s overall job count is more than 1.9 million and stands 10,000 higher than it did in March 2007.
Although the Employment Security Commission said that unemployment dropped drastically from 6.1 percent in January to 5.5 percent in February, McClary said no data support such a drop in a month when job growth was “very slow.”
The data are gathered from a survey of households, and such a “volatile movement” occurs about every two years, McClary said. March’s unemployment rates marked a return to more “normal” figures, he said.
Pee Dee county unemployment rates
- Chesterfield: 7.3 percent
- Darlington: 6.7 percent
- Dillon: 8.7 percent
- Florence: 5.9 percent
- Marion: 11.6 percent
- Marlboro: 10.1 percent
- Williamsburg: 9.2 percent
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