Local Unemployment Rate Drops, but Many in S.C. Still Jobless
Friday, December 16, 2022 at 8:19PM Anderson County’s unemployment rate fell to 2.4 percent in November, down from 3.2 percent in October.
Of the 90,797 eligible for the workforce, 88,587 were employed.
Statewide, South Carolina is enjoying record low employment rates at 3.3 percent, with a state labor force participation of 56.4 percent.
"Despite the low unemployment rate, South Carolina Works Online Services has approximately 100,000 jobs posted,” said S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Dan Ellzey. “Opportunities are available in manufacturing, construction, retail, transportation, warehousing, hospitality, restaurants, healthcare, business, I.T., and more. Hourly wages continue to rise, with increases of 3 percent since January and 13.7 percent since the start of the pandemic, and many businesses are willing to train on the job.”
A statewide task force is evaluative why discrepancies exist between those figures, and is studying the results of an extensive survey to find answers.
“It’s a deeply concerning issue, and we have to bring a lot of people to the table to figure out how to address it,” said Bryan Grady, a task force member and the labor market information director for the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.
The task force commissioned the survey, which focused on people who were employed in South Carolina in 2019, filed for unemployment in 2020, and then were not present in the Department of Employment and Workforce’s wage data in 2021. More than a quarter of the approximately 6,000 people who responded said they were not currently working but were able to work.
That group then detailed what barriers were keeping them from getting a job.
The most frequently cited reasons for not being employed, across races, genders, and age groups were: low-paying jobs, gaps in employment history, optimal hours not being available, lack of transportation, and disabilities.
Women also cited lack of childcare or the need to stay with their child among their top reasons, while more men said a criminal record was holding them back.
What would entice them to return to work? Four answers emerged at the top: higher wages (51 percent), flexible working conditions (49 percent), a location closer to home (48 percent), and flexible hours (44 percent).
Grady said the full findings of the survey will be critical to guiding the task force’s work and recommendations.
“And we say, ‘All right, here’s what’s going on in South Carolina. What do we do about it?’ Because we’ve seen the labor force participation rate, unfortunately, in the last few months, it’s continued to decline, fifth-lowest in the United States,” he said.
New data shows that the rate is currently about 56 percent, meaning slightly over half of South Carolinians who are old enough and eligible to work are either employed or actively looking for work. The current national labor force participation rate is about 62 percent.
“If we can raise our labor force participation rate by one percentage point, that would increase wages in the state of South Carolina by over $1.1 billion per year,” said Ellzey.
The task force plans to hold briefings in January and February to break down these findings.
Grady said they want a wide array of people involved from both the public and private sectors as they move toward the policy development and recommendation phase of their work.
Those recommendations could involve the private sector, other state agencies, local governments, and the state legislature.