4:35 am on Monday June 18, 2012
| Posted by Ken Hawkins
After declining for months, S.C. and Beaufort unemployment go higher
Flickr user Kelly B.
After more than 10 months of declines, South Carolina's unemployment rate ticked up in May, along with a bigger increase in the Beaufort area.
In April the unemployment rate was 8.8%, moving to 9.1% in May for South Carolina and increasing in all but two counties (Marlboro and York).
The Beaufort area edged up from 7.0% to 8.2% — although the county's job market increased by 569 jobs, the workforce increased more, by 1,487 people. That situation carried throughout the state, the number of unemployed increased by 5,861 to 195,905 and the jobs decreased by 3,886 to 1,957,360.
Nationally, the unemployment rate increased slightly from 8.1% in April to 8.2%, with about 642,000 people entering the labor force in May.
You can read the SC Department of Employment and Workforce's full news release on South Carolina's jobs below.
