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State Job Market Continues Its Strong, Stable Growth

Thu, 04/20/2023

State Job Market Continues Its Strong, Stable Growth

Layoffs by South Carolina Employers Tied for Second-Lowest On Record in February

Columbia, S.C. – On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released state-level Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data for February 2023. Job openings, hires, and quits were stable or slightly down month-over-month, with layoffs declining substantially.

Month

Openings

Hires

Quits

Layoffs

Count

Rate

Count

Rate

Count

Rate

Count

Rate

February 2022

184,000

7.7%

120,000

5.5%

80,000

3.6%

20,000

0.9%

January 2023

(revised)

177,000

7.2%

110,000

4.8%

75,000

3.3%

33,000

1.4%

February 2023

(preliminary)

175,000

7.1%

109,000

4.8%

75,000

3.3%

18,000

0.8%

Note: Numbers are seasonally adjusted.

“We’re glad to see that the increase in layoffs in January appears to be a one-off, returning to historically low levels in this release,” said Dr. Bryan Grady, Assistant Executive Director for Labor Market Information (LMI) at the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW). “Unemployment is at 3.2 percent, despite all the doom-and-gloom recession talk out there. DEW is working hard every day to help match employers and jobseekers, including the start of our SC at Work Road Trip next month.”

Please email communications@dew.sc.gov with press inquiries or interview requests for the LMI Division. DEW also has an agency dashboard that provides easily accessible economic and workforce data, and the LMI website at scworkforceinfo.com has been updated to improve the user experience and includes links to our monthly Trends newsletter and many other resources.