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Executive Director Dan Ellzey's June Employment Statement

Fri, 07/22/2022

Employment and Workforce Executive Director Dan Ellzey’s Statement
June 2022 Employment Situation


Columbia, S.C. – “The numbers are out, and it is good news in South Carolina again. Employment is up to 2,326,257, more than 4,000 more individuals working since last month, and nearly 77,000 more people working than February of 2020,” said S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Dan Ellzey.


“The number of people unemployed is down by approximately 1,000 to 78,101, with the unemployment rate ticking down to 3.2%. This puts the state within three-tenths of a percentage point of the pre-pandemic figure of 2.9% in February of 2020 and significantly lower than the 11.6% rate in April of 2020,” stated Ellzey.


“The economy remains strong with tens of thousands of job postings in the SC Works Online Services (SCWOS) database. While federal payroll figures may show the economy is slowing down nationally, South Carolina Local Area Unemployment Statistics show increases in employment in the household survey, and Current Employment Statistics survey of businesses continue to show an increase in jobs,” explained Ellzey. “The methodology to gather national numbers is very different than that used for states, but, overall, our state’s economy remains robust as employers continue to look for workers.”


“In fact, South Carolina’s labor force continues to grow. It is up again to 2,401,251, approximately 1,300 over May 2022,” said Ellzey. “The Labor Force Participation Task Force, formed in March of this year to explore the deficit of participants in the workforce compared to the surplus of jobs, has been busy. To date, the task force has met three times, completed an initial analysis, started mining additional data, and has begun working with vendors to gather more information.”

“The goal is for the task force to analyze what is affecting South Carolina’s workforce, how labor force participation can be increased, and help us understand whether this should be a statewide or county-by-county effort,” concluded Ellzey.