Unemployment in SC grows to all-time high as coronavirus shocks economy
More South Carolinians were unemployed in April than ever before as the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a massive blow to the economy, according to new figures Friday from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
An estimated 288,022 people in the state were without work as of April. That’s both the highest number and the highest percentage — 12.1% — of unemployed workers the state has ever seen, according to S.C. DEW.
Job losses jumped by 211,653 between March and April, the workforce department reported. That’s also the largest month-to-month increase in unemployment the state has ever experienced. The unemployment rate was just 3.2% in March.
About 2,089,889 people were working in South Carolina in April, according to S.C. DEW. That’s a “significant decrease” of nearly 239,000 people since March of this year, and nearly 204,000 fewer people working than there were a year earlier in April 2019, the agency said in a news release Friday.
“While South Carolina’s high unemployment rate is shocking compared to the record lows we recently enjoyed, I am sure that this news isn’t a surprise to anyone,” S.C. DEW Director Dan Ellzey said in a statement. “As the unemployment rate has increased dramatically to 12.1%, it is significantly less than the U.S. rate of 14.7%. This unemployment level reflects our state’s careful, planned response to the COVID-19 pandemic in April.”
The greatest number of job losses were reported in the leisure and hospitality industry, with about 125,300 jobs cut between March and April. No industry in the state reported an increase in jobs.
It’s important to note that what happened in April does not capture the effects of the gradual reopening of business across the state over the past three weeks, said Joey Von Nessen, an economist at the University of South Carolina. In fact, South Carolina likely has passed its highest point of unemployment and should be seeing jobs slowly return, he said.
“The next several weeks are going to be very key to assessing what the speed of the recovery will look like,” Von Nessen said.
Continuing data and guidance from health experts along with consumers’ shifting level of comfort with returning to activities will shape the speed and success of the economy’s rebound, he said.
Despite the return of jobs expected over the coming weeks and months, it’s unlikely that South Carolina will see its unemployment numbers shrink back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, Von Nessen said.
Far more people have applied for unemployment insurance — more than 500,000 — than are considered jobless in South Carolina. The gap in these numbers is due to several factors, S.C. DEW says:
- Unemployment claims numbers are being updated weekly, while the full survey of the state’s unemployment situation is taken on the 12th of each month.
- Tens of thousands of workers who have been furloughed, but not laid off, are eligible to apply for and collect unemployment benefits, though they are not necessarily counted as unemployed.
- Workers whose hours and wages have been reduced also are eligible to claim unemployment benefits, although they are not counted among the overall jobless figure.
As Ellzey noted, South Carolina’s unemployment situation has been slightly better than nationwide unemployment, both before and since the brunt of the economic downturn due to the pandemic.
National unemployment was 4.4% in March and rose to 14.7% in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An estimated 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs in April, “with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality,” the bureau reported May 8.
Looking forward, economist Von Nessen predicts these first few weeks of partial business reopenings and the early months of summer could help businesses map out their strategies for safe operating as well as possible future shutdowns as the pandemic persists. A trial run for businesses now could mean a less dramatic increase in unemployment later in the year if there happens to be another spike in COVID-19 infections in the fall, as many health experts believe could happen.
“We were not prepared for something like this. This is totally unprecedented,” Von Nessen said. “Now, (businesses are) thinking about this, thinking it could happen again ... so they can plan for it.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 9:34 AM.
