COLUMBIA -- Economist Don Schunk of Coastal Carolina University said he wasn’t worried by the size of December’s increase in unemployment, but by the trend it reinforced. Since last summer, the state’s jobless rate has been rising, and job growth slowing. Nevertheless, Schunk and economist Doug Woodward of USC were not convinced a recession was coming. For example, new unemployment claims in December was 14 percent lower than in 2006.

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