SC agency: Businesses to keep unemployment credit

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s unemployment agency says businesses will continue to receive the full federal credit on their 2011 unemployment taxes, meaning they won’t see a big spike in what they pay.

The Department of Employment and Workforce announced Tuesday that the U.S. Labor Department has conditionally approved continuing the full 5.4 percent credit on what South Carolina businesses pay.

The state avoided federal tax penalties by paying down the federal loans that kept the state’s unemployed receiving benefits when the trust fund went broke in 2009.

The state agency has repaid nearly $184 million of the $972 million in federal loans. South Carolina is on track to repay the remaining $788 million in loans in 2015 under laws passed by legislators last year and earlier this year.