SC Unemployment Rate Ties Record

(AP) _ South Carolina’s unemployment rate tiedits record high in January at 12.6 percent. The numbers released Wednesday by the Employment SecurityCommission represent a slight increase over December’s rate, whichthe agency revised downward from 12.6 percent to 12.4 percent. The number of the state’s unemployed rose about 4,600 people tomore than 273,000, a state record. Retail cut 7,700 positions inJanuary as temporary workers were released after the holidayseason. Unemployment went up in all of South Carolina’s 46 counties.Allendale and Marion counties tied for the state’s highest rate, at24.3 percent. Unemployment was lowest in Lexington County, at 9.4. Economists said last month the state’s chronically highunemployment rate could top 13 percent before it starts to improve. (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)