SC jobless rate jumps to highest mark in 3 years
By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's unemployment rate has shot to its highest level in nearly three years, a jump forecasters blamed on manufacturing losses and a new federal assistance program.

South Carolina's jobless rate in July rose to 7 percent — nearly a full percentage point from the month before, when it was 6.1 percent, the state Employment Security Commission said. That's the highest rate since October 2005, when state unemployment was 6.9 percent.

There were 18,700 fewer people working in South Carolina last month, but there were 18,000 more jobs available, nearly 4,000 more than this time a year ago. Officials blamed the increase on schools closed for the summer, along with 2,400 layoffs in the manufacturing sector and more people looking for jobs.

The construction sector also cut 100 positions, marking the ninth straight month for job losses there. The state uses a federal survey of 1,000 households to determine how many people are employed or looking for work in a given month. If more people are looking for work, the rate increases.

Nationally, the unemployment rate rose slightly in July, from 5.5 percent to 5.7 percent, a full percentage point higher than the year before. Unemployment went up in 43 states and the District of Columbia, and South Carolina's jobless rate was the seventhhighest in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Michigan's rate the highest, at 8.5 percent.

This is the second time this summer South Carolina's jobless rate reached an unfortunate milestone. In May, state unemployment jumped to 6.5 percent, the highest level in more than two years. Officials blamed that increase on more South Carolinians looking for work to combat rising gas and food prices.

Some unemployed South Carolina residents are now seeking help from a new federally funded program, and experts say those applications may have pushed the state's jobless rate upward. Since the Extended Unemployment Compensation program went into effect last month, state Employment Security Commission chairman Roosevelt Halley says officials have processed more than 32,000 claims for South Carolinians who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits.

In Marion County, where a 14.7 percent jobless rate was the second-highest in the state and represented the largest increase (2.6 percent) from the month before, local officials said applications for that program definitely boosted the jobless rate in that county of 35,000.

''Because of that, a lot of people who came in had valid state claims, so that was part of it, too,'' said Cindy Rogers, director of the Marion Workforce Center. ''You had more people who were coming into the office.''

Rogers also said 100 manufacturing layoffs contributed to the rate increase.

''When you live in a small county, that begins to affect everyone,'' Rogers said.

Allendale County posted the state's highest jobless rate, at 15.9 percent. Lexington County had the lowest rate, at 5.2 percent.