COLOMBIA, SC – Starting next month, the unemployed in South Carolina will have to prove that they are looking for work if they want to continue receiving unemployment insurance.
The South Carolina Department of Employment and Labor Force suspended mandatory job searches twice a week due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the requirement will take effect on April 18, the agency said on Friday.
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“Now, a year later, as more and more Southern Carolinians are returning to work and the unemployment rate is consistently falling, it is time to re-establish the job search requirement to help employers and candidates connect,” he said. Dan Ellzey, executive director of the agency, in a statement.
About 125,000 residents are receiving unemployment insurance weekly, while employers in the state have 87,000 vacancies to fill.
Last month, the state’s unemployment rate was 5.2%, compared to 5.3% in January. That is still more than double the 2.5% rate of February last year. South Carolina continues to do better than much of the country, with a national unemployment rate of 6.2%.
In the year following February 2020, the state lost 85,100 non-agricultural jobs. The state’s hospitality sector was hardest hit, with more than 13% of its 273,400 jobs lost in that period.