Pickens County Jobless Rate Dropped in March

The jobless picture in Pickens County improved in March, as the unemployment rate dipped to 6.7 percent from 7 percent the previous month, the SC Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) reported Friday.

The March jobless figure also was down 1.2 percentage points from the 7.9 percent jobless rate in March 2012, DEW reported

Pickens County tied with Saluda County for the state's fifth-lowest unemployment rate.

In a good sign for the entire state, all 46 SC counties saw their jobless rates drop in March, with the highest being Marion County, whose rate dropped a full 1.5 percentage points to 16.2 percent, DEW reported.

The unemployment rate for the entire Greenville Metropolitan Statistical Area (which consists of Greenville, Laurens, Anderson and Pickens counties) dropped from 6.8 to 6.4 percent).

The statewide jobless rate decreased slightly to 8.4 percent from 8.6 in February, and more than a full percentage point from March 2012's 9.3 percent.

Statewide, the number of employed persons was 1,992,113, and the unemployed totaled 182,978, which is the lowest level since October 2008, according to DEW.