Charleston County Unemployment Drops Below 7% in February

South Carolina's unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent in February as employment reached its highest level in more than four years.

The data, released Friday morning by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, mirrors the nation overall, which saw the unemployment rate fall to 7.7 percent in February from 7.9 percent in January.

The unemployment rate in Charleston County dropped half of a percentage point down to 6.6 percent in February from 7.1 percent in January. The same percentage decrease was also seen in the larger Charleston Metropolitan Service Area (MSA), registering at 6.8 percent in February, down from a level of 7.3 percent in January.

The state's total employment rose to 1,991,575 — the highest since August 2008.

Click the county map above to compare February rates to January rates as well as rates from February 2012.