South Carolina’s Employment Situation    

February 2018

Employment, labor force and jobs continue to grow

People entering the state’s labor force and the number of people finding work increased in February 2018. Businesses’ payrolls also continued to grow by adding 9,400 jobs in the month, setting a new record level.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up to 4.4 percent in February from January’s rate of 4.3 percent as the labor force rose by 3,481 to 2,324,714 people. The number of individuals working across the state increased by 2,247 to 2,223,298. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 1,234 to 101,416.

Since February of 2017, the labor force has grown by 19,596 people, and employment gains totaled 19,954. The level of unemployed decreased by 358.

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

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Seasonally Adjusted1)

February 2018 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payrolls increased by 9,400 over the month to a record level of 2,120,300.

The state’s job count rose in Professional and Business Services (+2,700); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+2,200); Leisure and Hospitality (+1,400); Education and Health Services (+1,100); Other Services (+800); Financial Activities (+600); Manufacturing (+500); Construction (+100); and Government (+100).

The only industry recording job losses during the month was Information (-100).

From February 2017 to February 2018, South Carolina’s economy has added 33,800 seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs.

Industries with noticeable gains were Leisure and Hospitality (+7,600); Manufacturing (+6,000); Education and Health Services (+5,100); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+3,600); Other Services (+3,300); Government (+3,100); Professional and Business Services (+2,800); Construction (+1,500); Financial Activities (+500); and Information (+200)

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Not Seasonally Adjusted2)

Not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 21,000 from January 2017 to February 2018 for a total of 2,094,900.

Industries showing gains were Professional and Business Services (+5,300); Leisure and Hospitality (+4,800); Government (+3,700); Education and Health Services (+3,100); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+2,100); Manufacturing (+500); Information (+200); and Financial Activities (+200).

The only industry recording a decline during the month was Construction (-100).

Mining and Logging remained the same.

Since February 2017, not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs were up 31,500 overall in South Carolina.

All major industries marked annual gains: Education and Health Services (+5,500); Manufacturing (+5,400); Leisure and Hospitality (+5,100); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+4,900); Other Services (+3,200); Government (+2,700); Professional and Business Services (+2,100); Construction (+2,000); Financial Activities (+400); Information and Mining and Logging (+100), respectively.

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