York County unemployment claims are spiking again. Here’s where, and one reason why.
The new year hasn’t been kind for the area employment picture.
In York County, initial unemployment claim filing more than tripled in the past three weeks. The week ending Jan. 9 saw 320 claims, the most since Aug. 1 when claims were still falling off record highs in March and April. That’s when many businesses closed or cut operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claims mostly leveled out from August to mid-December. There was a smaller spike the week after Thanksgiving, then a noticeable one since the 102 claims filed the week ending Dec. 19.
York County isn’t alone.
The 168 Lancaster County unemployment claims last week are four times as many as there were four weeks prior. In six weeks, the recent figure is up 600%. Last week was the highest weekly claim total in Lancaster County since mid-July.
Chester County had 86 initial claims last week. That number is more than four times higher than a month prior, and up more than 300% in just two weeks. Chester County hadn’t had a count that high since late July.
Some unemployment claim fluctuation is to be expected. When the tri-county area and state saw their first noticeable claims uptick in three months the week after Thanksgiving, labor experts pointed to a traditionally slow week for hiring related to the holiday. Trends matched those across the nation.
Brian Nottingham, labor market information director for the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, said of that Thanksgiving bump there were still almost 80,000 open jobs across the state.
“It is important to note that South Carolina has shown signs of rapid recovery over the past several months,” he said then, “and with holiday hiring leveling off, a slowing of this rapid pace is an inevitability.”
Likewise, said employment and workforce spokesperson Heather Biance, a post-holidays upswing in unemployment claims is to be expected.
“January is historically higher due to seasonal layoffs,” she said. “That’s very normal.
Who lost jobs?
For the first claims update this year, the top industry filing for unemployment statewide was lawncare and lawn equipment manufacturing. Temporary help and employment placement agencies came next. Food service contractors, full-service and limited-service restaurants combined for more than 570 claims. Hotels and motels added 80 more claims.
As of November, the tri-county area had almost 6,000 job openings according to the workforce department. The unemployment rate was 4.3%.
More than a third of tri-county residents who filed November unemployment claims were age 25-40. Almost all of the people who filed either attended or graduated from college. Administrative support, manufacturing and retail were the top industries with claims filed.
The most recent unemployment filings in York County come from office and administrative support, management, production and food prep or serving.
The most job openings come in nursing, retail, customer service and sales.
The weekend of Jan. 8, the workforce department started paying out PUA Extension Program funds from the Continued Assistance Act. The average weekly benefit amount, per the workforce department, is now $223.66.
Since March 15, 2020 at the onset of business closings for the pandemic, the state workforce department distributed more than $4.8 billion in a mix of state, federal and emergency benefits.
The November unemployment rate in South Carolina sits at 4.4%. There are more than 2.2 million people working in the state. The most recent week saw 8,635 initial unemployment claims statewide. That number is less than the prior week, when the state count had more than doubled in a week.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 1:12 PM.
