Staff Report
Published Feb. 2, 2012

South Carolina's employment growth slowed in December even as its unemployment rate declined sharply, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

The agency’s Charlotte office said the slower pace of job gains was consistent with responses to its monthly Carolinas Survey of Business Activity, which continued to suggest cautious hiring attitudes.

Although South Carolina's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 9.5% in December — its lowest rate in more than four years — total payroll employment in the state advanced by just 300, the Fed added.

In addition, November's increase, initially reported to be 16,500, was dialed back to 9,100 net new jobs.

“Private sector employment growth was a little more robust in December, with 2,600 net new jobs added, but government employment fell,” the Fed report said.

The government sector lost 2,300 employees in December and, unlike previous months, most of the losses were concentrated in state rather than local government.

The impact of state government jobs was evident in the Columbia metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, where total employment declined by 2,800 jobs. The Myrtle Beach and Florence MSAs saw slight job losses in December, while Greenville, Sumter and Charleston experienced modest gains. Employment in the Spartanburg MSA was flat, the report said.

S.C. officials have plenty of work ahead, according to the Fed report.

“The results from our Carolinas Survey of Business Activity in January suggest that any improvement in the region's labor market was marginal at best,” the agency said. “The current labor demand indicators continued to point to very cautious hiring on the part of respondents, even as they reported an increase in general business activity.”