South Carolina’s Employment Situation    

June 2017

Unemployment rate hits 4 percent, number of unemployed drops 4,800

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell for the third consecutive month to its lowest level since December 2000. The June rate dropped to 4 percent from 4.1 percent in May.

The number of unemployed people dropped in June by 4,816 to 91,710, the lowest level since February 2001. The state’s labor force decreased by 6,905 people to 2,321,592, as the number of people working declined by 2,089 to 2,229,882.

Since June 2016, the labor force has grown by 24,625, and employment gains totaled 45,949. The level of unemployed people decreased by 21,324.

Nationally, the unemployment rate increased from 4.3 percent in May to 4.4 percent in June. South Carolina’s unemployment rate has remained below the national rate for 12 consecutive months.

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Seasonally Adjusted1)

Seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment in June 2017 increased by 500 over the month to a level of 2,080,000.

Job gains were recorded in Manufacturing (+1,600); Professional and Business Services (+600); Education and Health Services (+500); Government (+400); and Financial Activities (+200).

Industries with decreases in employment were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (-900); Leisure and Hospitality (-700); Construction (-600); Other Services (-400); and Information       (-100).

Compared to June 2016, seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs were up 29,700.

Industries with gains were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+8,800); Manufacturing (+8,500); Education and Health Services (+3,900); Construction (+3,300); Professional and Business Services (+3,000); Government (+2,800); Leisure and Hospitality (+1,200); and Financial Activities (+300).

Decreases were reported in Other Services (-1,200) and Information (-1,000).

Nonfarm Employment by Industry (Not Seasonally Adjusted2)

Not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1,300 from May to June for a total of 2,097,900.

Growth was concentrated primarily in the Leisure and Hospitality (+4,600) sector. Increases also came from Professional and Business Services (+1,800); Manufacturing (+1,500); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+1,000); Financial Activities (+1,000); and Construction (+600). Mining and Logging and Information saw no changes. Government (-5,200); Education and Health Services (-3,100); and Other Services (-900) experienced decreases.

 

Since June 2016, not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm jobs were up 30,200 overall in South Carolina.

Industries marking annual gains were Manufacturing (+8,400); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+8,100); Professional and Business Services (+6,400); Construction (+4,200); Education and Health Services (+3,100); and Government (+2,300). Additional gains were in Leisure and Hospitality (+500) and Mining and Logging (+200).

Decreases occurred in the Other Services (-1,800); Information (-1,000); and Financial Activities (-200) sectors.

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.