Jobless Rate in Greenville Area Continues to Drop

The jobless rate in the Greenville area continued its downward trend in October, albeit slightly.

Based on statistics released Tuesday by the S.C. Department of Employment & Workforce (DEW), the county's unemployment rate dipped in October from 6.5  to 6.4 percent. The rate for the larger Greenville MSA remained at 6.8 percent.

While the month-over-month decline was slight, it was significantly better than October 2011 when the county's jobless rate stood at 7.9 percent.  

The only county with a lower rate was Lexington County, at 6.3 percent. Allendale County had the tate's highest rate, at 16.6 percent.

Meantime, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped significantly in October to 8.6 percent from the September estimate of 9.1 percent, DEW reported.

The number of unemployed people statewide decreased over the month by 10,814 to 183,024. While the number of employed people climbed by 14,705 to 1,954,801, the labor force saw a modest increase of 3,891 to 2,137,825. 

Since October 2011, the state's unemployment rate has fallen 1.5 percentage points, according to the SC Department of Employment and Workforce.

“Today’s announcement marks the state’s lowest unemployment rate in nearly four years, as well as the second consecutive month that the unemployment rate has continued a steady decline,” said SC Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Abraham J. Turner. “While this is certainly welcome news, DEW will continue to work diligently with businesses as it remains steadfast and focused on its efforts to put South Carolinians back to work.”

Nationally, the unemployment rate moved slightly higher from 7.8 percent in September to 7.9 percent in October, primarily driven by an increase in the labor force of 578,000 people. Approximately 410,000 more people found work; nearly 170,000 more people began searching and were unable to find work during the month.