South Carolina Labor Force: A Look at Veterans and Non-veterans
By Taylor Hendrix, Workforce Insights Analyst
Who Are We Looking at?
The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported on the unemployment rate for veterans ranging in age from 18 to 64. By these standards, 3,115,085 people make up the labor force of the same age range[1] in South Carolina. Approximately 1.3 million people in the labor force are 35 to 54 years old, 1.1 million are 18 to 34 years old, and just under 700,000 are between 55 to 64 years old. What does our state look like in terms of breaking the labor force population down even further by incorporating veteran and non-veteran statistics? Let’s take a look.
Veteran & Non-veteran Population
South Carolina’s veteran population comprises about 5.7 percent of the labor force while the non-veterans comprise 94.3 percent. The total number of veterans in the labor force is about 130,000, and 126,000, or 97.5 percent, of that total are employed. Non-veterans make up 2.2 million people in the labor force, and 2.1 million, or 95.5 percent, of that total are employed.
Greenville County has the largest amount of people in the labor force, with more than 330,000 represented. Of that number, just over 14,000 are veterans. Furthermore, Richland County has the second largest labor force at more than 262,000, but the overall largest number of veterans in that pool, at almost 19,000. Sumter County has the largest percentage of veterans in the labor force at 13.1 percent, followed by Berkeley County at almost 12 percent. See Figure 1 below for further information on these figures.
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Figure 1 |
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County |
Total Labor Force |
Veterans in the Labor Force |
Proportion of Veterans |
Non-veterans in the Labor Force |
|
Aiken |
100,504 |
6,926 |
6.89 |
93,578 |
|
Anderson |
123,306 |
7,080 |
5.74 |
116,226 |
|
Beaufort |
97,276 |
5,757 |
5.92 |
91,519 |
|
Berkeley |
142,758 |
16,860 |
11.81 |
125,898 |
|
Charleston |
260,044 |
13,375 |
5.14 |
246,669 |
|
Dorchester |
99,022 |
8,160 |
8.24 |
90,862 |
|
Florence |
79,669 |
6,039 |
7.58 |
73,630 |
|
Greenville |
330,323 |
14,071 |
4.26 |
316,252 |
|
Greenwood |
39,541 |
1,255 |
3.17 |
38,286 |
|
Horry |
217,065 |
10,034 |
4.62 |
207,031 |
|
Kershaw |
39,309 |
2,916 |
7.42 |
36,393 |
|
Lancaster |
59,277 |
3,323 |
5.61 |
55,954 |
|
Laurens |
40,320 |
1,367 |
3.39 |
38,953 |
|
Lexington |
182,063 |
10,368 |
5.69 |
171,695 |
|
Oconee |
45,372 |
1,277 |
2.81 |
44,095 |
|
Orangeburg |
47,878 |
2,061 |
4.30 |
45,817 |
|
Pickens |
85,587 |
2,746 |
3.21 |
82,841 |
|
Richland |
262,208 |
18,844 |
7.19 |
243,364 |
|
Spartanburg |
208,911 |
8,958 |
4.29 |
199,953 |
|
Sumter |
57,760 |
7,549 |
13.07 |
50,211 |
|
York |
178,621 |
8,211 |
4.60 |
170,410 |
Source: ACS 2022 1-year estimates
Conclusion
Veterans are obviously a key segment of the South Carolina workforce. Their employment rates are higher than those of the population at large and it is well known that their experiences are likely to have conferred unique skills. Nevertheless, they may face challenges in transitioning from military service to civilian employment. For more information on DEW programs aimed at easing this transition, visit https://www.dew.sc.gov/veterans.
[1] Note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ definition of the labor force differs, capturing those aged 16 and older.