JOBLESS NUMBER TIES STATE’S ALL-TIME RECORD

South Carolina’s state unemployment rate rose sharply in October, tying the all-time high of 12.1 percent set in May and June of this year.

The State Employment Security Commission (ESC) reported Friday that 262,956 workers in South Carolina were without a job in October.

“[T]he news that the state’s unemployment rate has eclipsed 12 percent is further proof that the stimulus isn’t working as advertised, and that the White House’s recently announced jobs numbers were worth the skepticism,” said State Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom. “Simply put, the economic downturn was used as an excuse to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need.

“Nine months after we saddled future generations with mountains of debt, there are millions fewer jobs, and real people continue to hurt.”

South Carolina’s record-high unemployment rate was the fifth worst in the country, behind only Michigan, at 15.1 percent, Nevada, at 13 percent, Rhode Island, at 12.9 percent, and California, at 12.5 percent.

The state had experienced two months of declining numbers since the record high, before the jobless number rose to 11.6 percent in September.

On the bright side, people are looking for work again. The ESC said the number of South Carolinians working or looking for work rose by 1,880 in October after four straight months of decline.

Unfortunately, most analysts believe the number of people in South Carolina without a job will continue to rise in the coming months.