It was a different month, but the same story in December in South Carolina, as the state’s economic recovery from the initial spread of COVID-19 was significantly better than that of the US
Richmond Federal Reserve Bank regional executive Matt Martin, based in Charlotte, provided an analysis of the US Department of Labor’s official South Carolina jobs report in a conference call on Tuesday with three state media vehicles, including The Sumter Item.
After losing 272,700 jobs in April with the start of the pandemic, Palmetto State continued its long climb back up the hill, adding 14,600 jobs in December.
The monthly count continues to add 16,300 jobs in November and 11,700 in October, and the state added a total of 235,600 jobs back in the eight months after the sharp drop. This represents an increase of about 86.4% in the period, and the overall net loss fell to 37,100 jobs.
The picture has been darker for the country in general since April. The US created 12.3 million jobs, after losing 22.2 million in April, representing an increase of 55.4%.
Since December 2019 – or year after year – total jobs in South Carolina have dropped 2.4%, or 53,200 jobs. In the same period, jobs in the US fell 6.2%.
In South Carolina, employment growth in December was seen in a number of sectors, including commerce, transportation and utilities (6,900 added); professional and commercial services (5,300 added); leisure and hospitality (2,300 added); construction (900 added); and government (500 added). Private education and private health services decreased 400 jobs in the month, financial activities fell 300 and the manufacturing industry fell 200 jobs, according to the report.
Five sectors in the state show year-on-year job growth since December 2019. They include civil construction with 5.3%, financial activities with 0.9%, manufacturing industry with 0.7%, professional and business services with 0.6 % and other services with 5.5%.
The leisure and hospitality industry, including restaurants and hotels, remains the biggest obstacle for the state and national economies. These jobs fell 15.6% last year in South Carolina and 22.8% nationally.
Martin said he expects the state to continue to outperform the US due to the positive impact of its coastal markets and the solid structure for manufacturing durable and non-durable goods.
In another survey report, the state’s unemployment rate rose from 4.4% to 4.6% in December.
Locally, Sumter County’s unemployment rate was 5.4%. Clarendon County stood at 5.5% and Lee had the highest unemployment rate in the area, 6%.
The national monthly unemployment rate was 6.7%. A broader measure of unemployment in the United States to include discouraged workers and those with part-time jobs for economic reasons was 11.7%.