SCBIZ Daily Staff

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.0% in July, the highest rate since October 2005, the State Employment Security Commission has reported.

The rate was almost a full percentage point above the revised June rate of 6.1%, and the number of unemployed grew by 18,700 to a total of 150,500, the commission said in its monthly report on jobless figures.

The state’s labor force climbed just over 18,000 to 2.16 million in July.

“The closing of local schools for the summer recess, along with layoffs in manufacturing and a sharp increase in the number of job-seekers returning to the job market, was responsible for the increase,” said Roosevelt T. Halley, executive director of the commission.

The national unemployment rate also rose in July from 5.5% to 5.7%.

Most of the job losses occurred in local government, which saw a reduction of 31,900 jobs as schools released non-teaching staff for the summer. Private sector jobs increased 1,800, with seasonal gains in leisure and hospitality by 4,900, professional and business Services by 700 and financial activities by 400.

Those gains were almost completely offset by layoffs in manufacturing, which lost 2,400 jobs, and retail, which lost 1,500 jobs. Construction cut 100 positions, marking the ninth straight monthly employment loss. The overall job count for July was 3,900 above the year-ago level.

Some unemployed individuals in the state are receiving additional assistance through the new Extended Unemployment Compensation program. The federally funded EUC program was enacted by Congress to assist eligible individuals nationwide who have exhausted benefits under the regular Unemployment

Insurance program. The EUC program went into effect in early July. The program will run through March 2009.

"Since July 12, we have processed over 32,000 claims for EUC benefits,” Halley said.

Allendale County had the highest unemployment rate for July at 15.9%, followed by Marion County at 14.7%.

The lowest unemployment rate was in Lexington County at 5.2%

Unemployment in the major metro areas of South Carolina for July:

Greenville County, 5.8%, up from 5.2% in June.

Spartanburg County, 7.5%, up from 6.9% in June.

Richland County, 6.6%, up from 6.1% in June.

Charleston County, 5.7%, up from 5.1% in June.

Horry County, 5.9%, up from 5.6% in June.