COLUMBIA - While South Carolina's jobless rate jumped to 12.1 percent in October from 11.7 percent the previous month, Aiken County's picture held steady.
The county's labor force grew slightly from 74,968 to 75,161 in October, and the unemployment rate inched up from 9.9 percent to 10 percent. That rate is slightly below the nation's, which was 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"At a county level, it's not that significant, because the sample size is relatively small within that geographic area," said Steve McLaughlin, labor market analyst for the S.C. Employment Security Commission.
A comparison of this October to the same month last year, however, shows the county's unemployment rate climbed more than 3 points from 6.9 percent.
This month the county had the sixth lowest rate of the state's 46 counties, making it, as usual, one of the lowest.
McLaughlin said Aiken County's consistently lower unemployment rate may be due, in part, to the Savannah River Site as a major employer as well as relatively strong manufacturing support. The city of Aiken may also have something to do with it, he said.
"Aiken is a nice-sized town," said McLaughlin. "And in South Carolina we tend to find we have higher unemployment rates in more rural counties where there's not as much economic development or a major city or municipality."
Reach Sarita Chourey at sarita.chourey@morris.com or (803) 727-4257
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