Initial unemployment insurance claims in SC reaches lowest number since pandemic

(Courtesy: SC DEW/Facebook)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce says the state is seeing its lowest number of initial unemployment insurance claims filed since the pandemic started.

Officials say in the week of August 2 to August 8, 5,921 people filed their initial claim for unemployment insurance in South Carolina.

According to SC DEW, that’s a decrease of 2,988 initial claims from the week prior, which marks the *new* lowest number of initial claims being filed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The department says in the last 21 weeks, the total number of initial claims has increased to 712,449 in the Palmetto State.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s report says for the first time in 21 weeks, the number of weekly jobless claims have fell below 1 million in the United States.

Officials say 963,000 workers filed jobless claims last week, a decrease of 228,000 from the previous week’s revised level.

However, the report also said the continued jobless claims number, which counts people who have filed for unemployment benefits for at least two weeks in a row, has increased to over 15 million.