South Carolina’s Employment Situation    
January 2018

Jobs grow to record level as employment and labor force increase

South Carolina employers added more than 3,000 jobs in January with the manufacturing and trade, transportation and utility sectors filling the majority of the jobs increase.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up to 4.3 percent in January from December’s revised rate of 4.2 percent.

The number of individuals working increased by 463 to 2,221,308 people, while the number of unemployed individuals increased by 2,299 to 100,178. The state’s labor force increased by 2,762 to 2,321,486 people.

Since January 2017, the labor force has grown by 18,281 people, and employment gains totaled 21,773. The level of unemployed people decreased by 3,492.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was unchanged, remaining at 4.1 percent in January.

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Seasonally Adjusted1)

January 2018 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payrolls increased by 3,100 over the month to a record level of 2,113,100.

The state’s job count rose in Manufacturing (+3,100); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+2,400); Government (+400); Leisure and Hospitality (+200); Construction (+100); Education and Health Services (+100); and Information (+100).

Industries recording job losses during the same month were Professional and Business Services (-1,800); Other Services (-1,000); and Financial Activities (-500).

 

From January 2017 to January 2018, South Carolina’s economy has added 28,800 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs.

Industries with noticeable gains were Leisure and Hospitality (+7,300); Manufacturing (+7,200); Education and Health Services (+4,900); Government (+2,600); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+2,400); Other Services (+2,100); Construction (+1,700); Professional and Business Services (+800); and Information (+400).

Declines were reported in Financial Activities (-600).

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Not Seasonally Adjusted2)

Not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 37,400 from December 2017 to January 2018 for a total of 2,077,100.

Manufacturing (+1,900) was the only major industry to add jobs during the month.

Mining and Logging remained the same.

Industries declining during the month were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (-10,400); Professional and Business Services (-9,500); Leisure and Hospitality (-7,100); Government (-6,100); Education and Health Services (-3,100); Other Services (-1,600); Construction (-500); Financial Activities (-500); and Information (-500).

 

Since January 2017, not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs were up 31,400 overall in South Carolina.

Industries marking annual gains were Manufacturing (+7,600); Leisure and Hospitality (+6,400); Education and Health Services (+5,600); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+4,100); Construction (+2,900); Government (+2,500); Other Services (+1,700); Financial Activities (+300); Information (+200); and Professional and Business Services (+100).

Mining and Logging held steady.

1Seasonally Adjusted: Seasonal adjustment removes the effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year (i.e. tourist-related hiring and school closings in the summer). These adjustments make it easier to observe the cyclical and other nonseasonal movements in data over time.

2Not Seasonally Adjusted: Effects of regular or seasonal patterns have not been removed from these data