New Federal Labor Market Data Suggest Winter Cooldown in South Carolina

Measures of job churn declined across the board for January 2023

Columbia, S.C. – On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released state-level Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data for January. Overall, worker movement declined somewhat with openings, hires, and quits down from the month prior, while layoffs increased modestly.

Note: Numbers are seasonally adjusted.

“These initial numbers for January suggest that the labor market may be moderating a bit, which might be good news with respect to inflation,” said Dr. Bryan Grady, Labor Market Information (LMI) Director at the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW). “It’s important to not put too much stock in any one month’s numbers, though. Even though layoffs are up, the January figure is in line with average readings from 2019 when South Carolina had its lowest unemployment rate on record.”

“Dr. Grady said it best when he mentioned that one month is not a great marker of economic trends. January is a month during which temporary seasonal jobs come to an end following the holidays. Seeing a dip in job openings and a slight rise in layoffs makes sense in this context. We will continue evaluating and reporting upcoming information, such as the remaining JOLTS data for the first quarter of 2023,” stated DEW Acting Executive Director William Floyd.

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. DEW offers a monthly publication, Trends, which provides additional LMI information, as well.