Charleston area, statewide unemployment rates rise

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News 2 and AP
Published: November 21, 2008

New numbers out Friday show the unemployment rate in Lowcountry counties and the state of South Carolina as a whole on the rise in October.

The Charleston County unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, up from 5.6 percent in September.

Berkeley County’s rate was up half a percent to 7.1 percent.

Dorchester County was up to 6.8 percent from 6.2 percent.

The highest unemployment rate among Lowcountry counties was Williamsburg at 11.5 percent.

Colleton County was up to 10 percent unemployment in October.

Georgetown County saw a full one percent gain to 8.7 percent.

South Carolina’s overall jobless rate hit 8 percent in October - the highest in 25 years.

The state Employment Security Commission said Friday that 16,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed in October.

The jobless rate last month was up from 7.3 percent in September.

The national rate was 6.5 percent.

Employment Commission executive director Ted Halley says there were 4,100 more jobs in October than in September, but more people were looking for work.

Meanwhile, the state fund used to pay unemployment benefits is being depleted by the high numbers of people out of work.

The state has received a $15 million loan from the U.S. Labor Department to supplement the remaining $64 million in the unemployment insurance trust fund.

Here are county by county unemployment figures from the South Carolina Employment Security Commission.

They do not include the seasonal adjustments used to calculate the statewide unemployment rate.

All unemployment numbers are percentages.

County Oct. Sept. Change
1 Allendale 17.0 16.9 0.1
2 Marion 15.8 15.0 0.8
3 Marlboro 15.4 13.8 1.6
4 Bamberg 13.8 13.6 0.2
5 Chester 12.8 12.0 0.8
6 Orangeburg 12.5 12.5 0.0
7 Barnwell 12.4 12.7 -0.3
8 Union 12.3 11.9 0.4
9 Lancaster 12.1 11.9 0.2
10 Dillon 12.0 11.2 0.8
McCormick 12.0 10.9 1.1
12 Lee 11.7 9.8 1.9
13 Williamsburg 11.5 10.8 0.7
14 Cherokee 11.4 9.8 1.6
Fairfield 11.4 11.7 -0.3
16 Clarendon 11.3 10.8 0.5
17 Chesterfeild 11.0 10.5 0.5
18 Hampton 10.2 9.6 0.6
19 Colleton 10.0 9.7 0.3
20 Calhoun 9.5 9.1 0.4
Darlington 9.5 8.9 0.6
Sumter 9.5 8.8 0.7
23 Abbeville 9.3 8.7 0.6
24 Oconee 9.1 7.9 1.2
25 Greenwood 9.0 8.4 0.6
26 Georgetown 8.7 7.7 1.0
Newberry 8.7 8.2 0.5
28 Horry 8.4 6.9 1.5
29 Edgefield 8.3 7.4 0.9
30 Florence 8.2 7.5 0.7
Kershaw 8.2 6.9 1.3
32 Spartanburg 8.0 7.3 0.7
33 Anderson 7.9 7.1 0.8
34 Laurens 7.8 7.4 0.4
York 7.8 8.0 -0.2
36 Saluda 7.3 6.3 1.0
37 Berkeley 7.1 6.6 0.5
Pickens 7.1 6.4 0.7
Richland 7.1 6.6 0.5
40 Aiken 7.0 6.5 0.5
41 Jasper 6.9 6.2 0.7
42 Dorchester 6.8 6.2 0.6
43 Greenville 6.6 6.0 0.6
44 Charleston 6.2 5.6 0.6
45 Beaufort 6.0 5.3 0.7
46 Lexington 5.9 5.2 0.7