South Carolina’s Employment Situation    

March 2018

Employment, businesses’ payrolls set new records in March

The number of individuals working across the state continued to climb, setting a new record as businesses continued to grow payrolls to new highs in March.

During the month, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 4.4 percent as 2,059 people found work, raising the number of employed to an all-time high of 2,225,456. The state’s labor force also edged up by 2,720 people to a level of 2,327,532, while the number of unemployed increased by 661 to 102,076 people.

Since March 2017, the labor force has grown by 21,012 people, and employment gains totaled 18,810. The level of unemployed people increased by 2,202.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was unchanged for the sixth consecutive month, remaining at 4.1 percent.

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Seasonally Adjusted1)

In March 2018 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payrolls increased by 1,400 from February 2018 to a record level of 2,122,800.

• The state’s job count rose in the sectors of Leisure and Hospitality (+1,900); Professional and Business Services (+1,300); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+700); Education and Health Services (+700); Information (+200);
• The only industries recording job losses during the month were Manufacturing (-1,700); Construction (-800); Financial Activities (-500); Other Services (-400); and Government (-100).

From March 2017 to March 2018, South Carolina’s economy has added 35,600 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs.

• Industries with noticeable gains were Leisure and Hospitality (+11,200); Education and Health Services (+5,500); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+5,300); Professional and Business Services (+4,100); Manufacturing (+3,100); Other Services (+3,000); Government (+2,600); Construction (+1,000); and Information (+100).
• The Financial Services (-400) sector declined.

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Not Seasonally Adjusted2)

Not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 19,300 from February 2018 to March 2018 for a total of 2,115,300.

• Industries showing gains were Leisure and Hospitality (+12,800); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+3,200); Professional and Business Services (+2,700); Education and Health Services (+1,500); Government (+900); Other Services (+500); Mining and Logging (+100); and Information (+100).
• The industries recording declines during the month were Manufacturing (-1,500); Construction (-700); and Financial Activities (-300).

  Since March 2017, not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs were up 35,600 overall in South Carolina.

• All except one major industry marked annual gains: Leisure and Hospitality (+10,600); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+6,700); Education and Health Services (+6,200); Professional and Business Services (+3,800); Manufacturing (+2,900); Other Services (+2,900); Government (+1,900); Construction (+800); Information (+100); and Mining and Logging (+100).
• The only major industry that reported a job decline was Financial Activities (-400).

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