More Jobs, Jobseekers in Dorchester County

While more than 700 people found work in June, another 1,000 entered the labor force in Dorchester County — causing a slight uptick in unemployment here.

Ranked fifth among 46 South Carolina counties for lowest unemployment rate, Dorchester County rose from 7.7 percent in May to 8.3 percent in June.

According to data from S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, 64,197 of 69,997 people were employed in the county in June, and 63,464 of 68,733 were employed in May. April saw 8.6 percent unemployed and 63,382 of 69,375 people holding jobs.

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South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 9.4 percent in June from 9.1 percent in May, according to the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. This is the second consecutive rise in the rate, but is well below the June 2011 rate of 10.5 percent. 

According to the department, the climb in the rate was fueled by an increasing number of unemployed people (up 6,618 in June to 202,918) and a decrease in people who were employed (down 9,391 to 1,947,936). The decline in employment can be attributed to a fall in full-time jobs with schools out for the summer. The overall labor force moved downward slightly by 2,773 people to 2,150,854. 

"While South Carolina’s unemployment rate edged up from May to June, much progress has been made since last year as there were more than 22,000 jobs added," said Abraham J. Turner, executive director of the SC Department of Employment and Workforce. "Businesses continue to choose our great state as a place to locate or expand, and DEW is committed to working with employers to meet their workforce needs."

Nationally, the unemployment rate remained the same from May to June at 8.2 percent. 

Online job ads in South Carolina, as reported by the Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine data series, showed an increase of about 4,000 ads from May to June. The number of jobseekers per opening decreased slightly from 3.7 to 3.5 this past month. Online ads across the United States saw an increase of 232,300 in the last month. Compared to a year ago, online ads in South Carolina were approximately 7,700 higher in June 2012. 

The Trident Workforce Area (Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties) had the most ads (13,214), with the Midlands Workforce Area (Fairfield, Lexington, and Richland counties) coming in next (11,920). Of all online ads, Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations had the highest number of ads in the state (10,509).