South Carolina unemployment soars in March

The South Carolina unemployment rate has risen once again, according to a new report by the S.C. Employment Security Commission.

The report showed that unemployment rates in the state rose from 10.9 percent in February to 11.4 percent in March.

Judy Jordan, assistant area director for the Florence Workforce Center, said the numbers appear to be leveling off slightly. She said calls to the office lately have not been as frantic as they had in months past.

“We have seen some more layoffs recently,” she said. “But it also seems to be leveling off a little bit.”

Jordan said the phone calls coming in to the office about reduced hours and layoffs are coming less frequently.

“I think some people are finding jobs and I think there are some who have dropped out of the job market,” she said.

Jordan said finding a job in this economy is not as easy as it was in recent years.

“They need to make finding a job, their job,” she said. “They need to diligently look every day for work.”

The current unemployment rate is equal to the highest rate ever recorded in South Carolina, which was in January 1983.

The national unemployment rate also rose in March to 8.5 percent compared to February’s rate of 8.1 percent.

Dr. Don Schunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University, released a report Friday about the new unemployment numbers. His opinion was similar to that of Jordan’s about the job losses beginning to slow.

“While the economy remains in a deep recession and continues to generate substantial uncertainty and anxiety, there have been scattered signs that the pace of decline for the national economy may be slowing,” he said in the report. “This is not to say that the recession itself is ending, but that the sharpest declines may be behind us.”

Schunk said the signs could be pointing toward a recovery, but perhaps not the one many people envision.

“Through a combination of regular cyclical economic forces and government monetary and fiscal policy, the economy will turn the corner,” he said in the report. “The important questions right now relate to the strength of the coming recovery. Will consumers return to their old ways and be willing (and able) to take on additional debt and reduce savings to finance consumption? Or, will consumers remain relatively thrifty for an extended period?”

With South Carolina’s unemployment rate hitting a record-tying high in March, the science behind the numbers comes into question once again.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts weekly surveys, much like the Census process.

According to the S.C. Employment Security Commission, the bureau determines who is counted as employed and unemployed.

Basically, if you are working, even one hour a week, you are counted as “employed.” Therefore, the “unemployed” figures do not include those Americans who receive government assistance of one kind or another, because, according to officials, those people are not seeking work.

“You have to be able and available (to work),” said Mary Nell Smith, who heads up the Conway office of the S.C. Employment Security Commission.

“You have to have a measure, nationally and statewide,“ she said. “I know you’re always going to have people that disagree or agree with how it is, but you have to have some way to measure.”

— WBTW News13’s Rusty Ray contributed to this report.