County’s jobless rate at 13 percent in October

Darlington County’s unemployment rate rose in October to 13 percent from a revised 12.8 percent in September while Chesterfield County’s rate slipped from 17.7 percent in September to 17.4 percent, the S.C. Employment Commission reported Friday.

Meanwhile, South Carolina’s jobless rate rose in October to 12.1 percent from a revised 11.7 percent for September, according to unadjusted figures from the commission.

Nationally, the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October from 9.8 percent in September.

Darlington County’s labor force shrank from 32,404 in September to 32,244 in October, while the number of unemployed in the county increased from 4,147 to 4,184, according to the commission’s figures.

In October of 2008, the county reported a jobless rate of 9.7 percent with 3,073 jobless out of a labor force of 31,628.

In Chesterfield County, the labor force showed little change from 18,995 to 18,980 with the number of jobless claims declining from 3,362 in September to 3,310. One year earlier, Chesterfield County posted a jobless rate of 10.9 percent with 2,055 jobless out of a force of 18,787.

Among South Carolina’s 46 counties, Allendale County again posted the highest jobless rate of unemployment in October, 22.2 percent, unchanged from September’s revised figure. Lexington County again saw the lowest rate at 8.6 percent, up slightly from 8.3 percent the previous month.

Darlington County’s October rate placed it 25th along with Georgetown County for the month. Chesterfield posted the 11th highest rate for the month.

Among other surrounding counties, Marlboro County posted the third highest rate at 21.0 percent versus 21.1 percent in September, while Marion County ranked fourth highest at 20.7 percent compared to 20.9 percent a month earlier.

Dillon County ranked 10th highest at 17.7 percent compared to 17.4 percent in September. Lee County ranked 17th at 15.8 percent, up from September’s 15.5 percent.
Florence County and Fairfield County ranked 30th at 12.1 percent compared to a September rate of 11.5 percent for Florence and 12.9 percent for Fairfield.

Based on estimates produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C., South Carolina’s labor force totaled 2,173,462 in October, an increase of 1,880. The number of unemployed statewide rose by 9,736 to 262,956, according to the commission.
The state’s job count increased by 1,100 in October with most of the increases coming in professional and business services, up 4,600; government, up 3,500; and retail trade, up 2,300.

Partially offsetting those gains, however, were losses in leisure and hospitality, down 5,600; manufacturing, down 1,600; and construction, down 1,300.

The state’s overall job count was 60,500 below the level one year ago and nearly 95,000 below the December 2007 level when the current recession began.

“Going forward, our state faces significant challenges as it tries to replace the large number of jobs lost due to the recession that began in December of 2007,” said Sam Foster, interim executive director of the commission.

On Oct. 2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that job losses reported for the nation during the 12-month period ending last March were 824,000 more than were originally reported. The revision was the result of an annual benchmarking process in which preliminary job count estimates developed through sampling and estimating models are revised based on more up-to-date data from employer payroll records.

South Carolina and most other states will be conducting their annual benchmarking over the next few months. If national trends continue, most states will likely show greater job losses than are currently being reported in the preliminary estimates. The revised benchmarked data will be released early 2010.