Pee Dee’s jobless rate increases for second straight month

Unemployment rates for the Pee Dee and the state increased for a second straight month, according to data for August released Friday by the S.C. Employment Security Commission.

Marion County continues to lead the Pee Dee in unemployment with a 0.5 percent increase from July. The county’s rate for August is 15.2 percent, making Marion No. 2 in the state behind Allendale County.

Marlboro County moved up in rank from No. 6 in July to No. 4 for August. The county’s jobless rate increased 0.8 percent from July, bringing the August rate to 13.3.

Williamsburg County’s August unemployment rate was 11.7 percent, an increase of 0.8 percent. It ranks No. 12 in the state.

Dillon County is next with an 11.4 percent rate for August, up 0.7 percent from July.

The No. 16 county in the state is Chesterfield with a 10.3 percent unemployment rate for August. The county’s rate increased 0.9 percent from July.

Darlington County’s unemployment rate increased 1 percent, bringing its rate for August to 9.5 percent. The county is ranked No. 21 out of 46 counties in the state for its unemployment rate.

Florence County has the lowest unemployment rate of the seven Pee Dee counties, with an 8.2 percent rate for August. The county increased 0.7 percent from July and remains at No. 27 in the state.

These figures don’t reflect recent layoffs from Wellman Inc. Wellman announced this week that it will be closing its Darlington and Johnsonville plants. The Darlington plant employees 550 workers, while the Johnsonville plant employees 170 people. A corporate spokesman for the company said Wednesday that the employees will continue to work for the next 60 days while the plants are prepared to shut down.

The state’s unemployment rate rose significantly, reaching 7.6 percent in August, according to the release.

After July’s record-setting increase of 7 percent, August’s rate is now the highest since May 1993.

The national unemployment rate also rose in August from 5.7 percent to 6.1 percent.

The jump in the state’s unemployment rates is “largely due to continued layoffs in the state’s manufacturing and construction sectors,” according to the commission.

The manufacturing sector lost another 1,600 jobs, while construction lost another 1,000 jobs.

Sam McClary, senior labor market analyst with the commission, said the Pee Dee typically has a high unemployment rate because of the concentration of manufacturing jobs in the area.

“As a result, they have some of the higher unemployment rates for August,” he said.

McClary said the state has lost construction jobs for the past 10 straight months and that is “highly unusual for a state that’s growing like South Carolina.

“Right now, I don’t see any turnaround in the those two industries,” he said.

The state’s persistently high level of unemployment over the past year also has taken its toll on the state’s Unemployment Insurance trust fund, according to the release. The fund is the source of benefits for qualified unemployed workers. The money in the trust fund is generated through taxes paid by the state’s employers, based on their number of employees.

The amount of employer taxes decreases with layoffs, while the need for the funds increases as the unemployment rate goes up, Roosevelt T. Halley, the commission’s executive director, said in the release.

“With recent high unemployment rates, the state has been draining its trust fund,” he said. “But a lot of states are in the same situation.”

The state’s trust fund reserves are extremely low, but jobless workers will continue to receive their benefits because the federal government provides loans to states that deplete their trust funds.

The state is paying about $10 million a week in Unemployment Insurance benefits.