Employment Grows to a New Record

I. Household Survey¹

Employment: The monthly survey of households across the state estimated the number of South Carolinians working moved higher, establishing a new record of 2,330,683.

That is a sizeable increase of 4,665 people over December 2019.

That is also a significant increase of 43,517 people over January 2019.

Unemployment: Unemployment estimates decreased to 56,590 people.

That is a decrease of 689 people since December 2019 and a decrease of 23,666 over January 2019.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged over the month from the revised rate of 2.4 percent in December.

Nationally, the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6 percent from December’s estimate of 3.5 percent.

Labor force: The state’s estimated labor force (people working plus unemployed people looking for work) increased to 2,387,273.

That is an increase of 3,976 people since December 2019.

That is an increase of 19,851 individuals over January 2019.

II. Current Employment Survey²

Nonagricultural Employment by Industry (Seasonally Adjusted³)

The Current Employment Survey of businesses in South Carolina marked an increase of 5,800 nonfarm payroll jobs over the month to a record high level of 2,215,400.

Industries reporting increases in employment were Education and Health Services (+1,500); Professional and Business Services (+1,300); Manufacturing (+900); and Government (+900); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+600); Other Services (+400); Leisure and Hospitality (+300) and Information (+100).

Decreases were noticed in the Financial Activities (-200) industry. The Construction industry remained flat.

From January 2019 to January 2020, South Carolina’s economy has added 41,600 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs.

Industries with strong growth were Leisure and Hospitality (+11,500); Government (+7,200); Professional and Business Services (+6,300); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+5,200); Education and Health Services (+4,000); Construction (+2,800) Manufacturing (+2,600); and Other Services (+2,300).

Decreases were seen in Information (-200) and Financial Activities (-100).

Nonagricultural Employment by Industry (Not Seasonally Adjusted²)

Not seasonally adjusted, nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 33,400 from December 2019 to January 2020 for a total of 2,184,000. This decline is a typical trend for the December-to-January time period due to seasonal layoffs and school closings between terms.

No industries showed growth during this period. However, the Mining and Logging industry did remain stagnant.

Industries reporting declines were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (-12,800); Leisure and Hospitality (-7,100); Government (-4,700); Professional and Business Services (-4,600); Education and Health Services (-1,200); Construction (-1,200); Financial Activities (-800); Other Services (-600); Information (-300); and Manufacturing (-100). Mining and Logging remained flat.

Since January 2019, not seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs were up 41,100 overall in South Carolina.

Industries marking strong annual gains were Leisure and Hospitality (+10,900); Professional and Business Services (+6,500); Government (+5,900); Education and Health Services (+5,000); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+4,800); Construction (+3,300); Manufacturing (+2,600); Other Services (+1,600); Financial Activities (+400); and Mining and Logging (+100).

No industries recorded an over the year loss; however, the Information Industry remained flat.