Here’s how far York, Lancaster, Chester unemployment dropped as COVID-19 grip lessens
The job situation isn’t quite back to normal, but it’s a lot closer than it has been.
Fewer than 6,000 South Carolina residents filed for unemployment in the week ending Aug. 8. That number is about a third less than the week prior, about a quarter of what it was July 11. The highest week of unemployment filing during the COVID-19 surge in mid-April is almost 15 times what it was the most recent week.
Still, the coronavirus impact remains.
“To keep things in context, this is still three times higher than the weekly totals we were experiencing in the weeks prior to the COVID-19 pandemic fully affecting South Carolina,” state Department of Employment and Workforce executive director Dan Ellzey said in a data release Thursday.
York, Lancaster and Chester counties saw even more pronounced unemployment drops in a week. The 210 York County claims for Aug. 8 is down 37% in a week. Lancaster County claims are down 33% in a week, to 85 claims. It’s the first week under 100 claims in Lancaster County since early March. Chester County dropped 57% to 36 claims. All three counties recorded weekly lows since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The drops do, though, highlight how far unemployment figures had to fall. Since mid-March there have now been 24,962 unemployment claims filed in York County. Lancaster County has 8,205 in that time. Chester County has 4,370. Together, the tri-county area has 37,537 unemployment claims.
The Catawba workforce region includes the three counties. As of June the unemployment rate for the Catawba region was 10.1%. The workforce department shows 20,205 unemployed people out of a workforce of more than 201,000.
Statewide, more than $3.75 billion has been paid to South Carolina residents since mid-March in state and federal unemployment benefits.
