Unemployment Chart

October 2015 Employment Numbers

There is good employment news for all four of our counties.  In all four, the unemployment rate declined between September and October, and Jasper County had the greatest percentage of the labor force employed, compared to the other 45 counties in South Carolina.  It is also one of only five counties in SC with unemployment rates below the national average of 5 percent.   Most US economists consider 5 percent to be “full employment," which is the current US rate.

 And, more importantly, both the labor force and the number of people employed in the four counties and the Region as a whole increased between October 2014 and October 2015.