LOW JOBLESS NUMBERS SUGGEST ROBUST ECONOMY

At the end of 2019, only seven other South Carolina counties carried unemployment rates lower than Oconee County, according to numbers posted today by the Department of Employment and Workforce. Oconee finished December with 2.1% jobless rate and a total workforce of 36 thousand people. The November figure for the county was an even two percent. When unemployment drops under two, the county’s economic development director predicts, to help employers fill their workforce needs it’ll be necessary to bring in outside workers. The state’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate for December was 2.3%. Charleston and Lexington counties tied for the lowest at 1.9%. Allendale was highest at 4.6. Unemployment number crunchers count only those people who are out of work but who are actively seeking work. They do not, we are told, count those people who are out of work and, for whatever reason, are not trying to find employment.
January 24, 2020 Dick Mangrum