SC unemployment rate drops to 11.6 percent in April as retail, hospitality sectors gain jobs

SC jobless rate drops to 11.6 percent in April

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 11.6 percent in April — the third straight monthly decline — but at least one expert said Friday the state’s economy is not yet supporting growth in both jobs and workers.

The national jobless rate was 9.9 percent last month — a slight increase — and South Carolina still had the sixth-highest rate in the nation behind Michigan (14 percent), Nevada (13.7 percent), California (12.6 percent), Rhode Island (12.5 percent) and Florida (12 percent).

The state Employment and Workforce Department said the total labor force decreased by more than 6,000 in April.

“We are seeing employment growth, but it is not yet strong enough growth to accommodate a growing labor force,” Don Schunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, said in a news release.

Schunk said overall, there were still nearly 10,000 fewer jobs in South Carolina in April compared with a year ago.

“Throughout the recession, the trends had suggested that the coming recovery could be agonizingly slow,” Schunk said. “I expect positive, but weak economic growth for the rest of the year.”

The main driver of April’s improvement was seasonal hiring by hospitality businesses, which added 8,800 jobs during the month but were still 6,100 short of last year’s employment levels. Almost every sector reported some improvement.

Construction continued to be the big loser with employment decreasing by 2,800 jobs in the month, as the fallout of the collapse of the housing market that sparked the current recession in December 2007 continued to be felt. Since April 2009, that sector has lost nearly 12,000 jobs.

Marlboro County still had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 19.5 percent — down from 21.5 percent in March — and Beaufort County along the coast improved to 7.3 percent from 8.8 percent to record the state’s lowest jobless rate. Every county reported improvement from the previous month.

Friday’s release is the first since Gov. Mark Sanford appointed retired Air Force Brig. Gen. John L. Finan to run the new workforce agency until March 2011.