Haley: SC unemployment tied to grads, retirees

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says college graduates, cash-strapped retirees and middle-aged workers dumped from their jobs by the recession are at the heart of the state’s nearly-worst-in-the-nation unemployment rate.

Haley said Thursday the labor force has grown with college students needing jobs, retirees who need to work because their savings aren’t adequate and people in their mid-50s who don’t have the skills needed to get new jobs.

The governor says she supports a new program through the state’s unemployment agency to provide incentives for jobless workers to get training.

Haley also said Thursday she wants to require drug testing for people who get unemployment benefits. She says she is figuring out details on how that program would work.

South Carolina’s unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July.