South Carolina Jobless Rates Climbs to 8.4% in November

South Carolina’s unemployment rate continued to soar in November reaching 8.4%, the state Employment Security Commission reported Friday. The agency reports another 11,500 people joined the ranks of the unemployed to 182,900.

Octobers unemployment rate was adjusted to 7.9%. That was the highest recorded in South Carolina since 1983.

Manufacturers laid off 1,200 workers during the month. Government added 2,700 jobs as state and local schools continued to add support staff for the fall term.

The Employment Security Commission reports they are currently paying unemployment insurance benefits to more than 60,000 people each week.
The amount of benefits being paid each week is exceeding $12 million and will come close to half a billion dollars in insurance payouts for 2008.

Union County has the highest unemployment rate in the Upstate at 12.9%, up by 0.7 percent from a month earlier. Greenville county had the lowest figure, among Upstate counties, at 6.9%.

You can read the full report from the Employment Security Commission by clicking here

NC jobless rate soars to 7.9 percent in November
   
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina’s unemployment rate soared to 7.9 percent in November, the highest level since in October 1983.

The state Employment Security Commission says more than 359,000 people were out of work.

The jobless rate climbed from 7.1 percent in October and 4.7 percent in November 2007. The national unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in November.

Since this time last year, unemployment has increased by nearly 146,000 people.