SC jobless rate drops to 10.5% in January

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s jobless rate improved significantly in January, dropping to 10.5 percent from a revised rate of 10.9 percent in December.

The state unemployment rate released Thursday was still significantly higher than the national rate that was 9 percent in January. But the state Department of Employment and Workforce said the improvement in the South Carolina rate followed the national trend.

South Carolina’s rate had gone up in December. The January rate is significantly lower than a year ago when unemployment in the state reached a post-Depression high of 12.5 percent.

Marion County continued to have the highest jobless rate at 21 percent. Lexington County remained the low spot in the state at 7.4 percent.

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