South Carolina unemployment rate holds at 6.7 percent in April

South Carolina’s jobless rate in April remained at 6.7 percent with the number of unemployed rising by almost 1,800 people, but the numbers working reaching 2.1 million, the state’s employment agency reported Wednesday.

Jobless people last month reached 151,528, up by 1,769 from the March figures, the Department of Employment and Workforce said in a news release.

The Palmetto State’s unemployment rate lags the national rate of 5.4 percent by 1.3 percentage points. The U.S. rate was down from 5.5 percent earlier, the state agency reported.

Lexington County continued to have the state’s lowest jobless rate again in April – 5 percent, down slightly from March’s 5.1 percent.

Metropolitan Columbia’s unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, the same as it was in March.

Yet the number of people working rose to 2,104,590, breaking a threshold, according to the news release. That’s an increase of 8,106 workers compared with March data.

People working or actively looking for work, known as the labor force, is estimated by the agency at 2,256,118, up 9,875 from March. That’s a record, the agency said.

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 10:21 AM with the headline "South Carolina unemployment rate holds at 6.7 percent in April."