SCETV’s Carolina Works Airs July 15th

Carolina Works, the South Carolina Workforce System’s monthly newsmagazine, moves to Wednesday night on ETV beginning in July.

On this month’s program: A story on the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business. A look at one of the many people getting help through the Employment Security Commission’s Workforce Centers. A spotlight on Columbia’s unique Nickelodeon Theatre.

Carolina Works is produced by SCESC’s Communications Department in partnership with several state and local agencies.

The program airs Wednesday night, July 15th at 7:00pm on SCETV and on Thursday, July 23rd at 5:30pm on the South Carolina Channel.

State Library Now Offering Employment Hubs

The South Carolina State Library is doing its part to assist out-of-work citizens find jobs. The Library now offers two specialized public access computer workstations where users can create resumes, develop PowerPoint presentations for job interviews, search for State Government and public sector job opportunities, and much more. Agency staff have developed a South Carolina Workforce Development program to bring together public libraries and state government business-related agencies to provide partnership opportunities to assist South Carolinians during these tough economic times. The employment hub computers are part of this overall goal.

In addition to the two employment hubs, the State Library also offers a bank of public computer workstations with Internet access. To use the computers, patrons need a photo ID and can sign in at the front desk.

Users may access the workstations on a first-come, first-served basis during normal library operating hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The library is located at 1500 Senate Street in downtown Columbia at the corner of Senate and Bull streets.

For more information about library services, visit www.statelibrary.sc.gov. For additional information about business resources, visit http://business.statelibrary.sc.gov. Or, call the agency at (803) 734-8666.

S.C. Unemployment Rate is 9.5% in December

With momentum from ongoing layoffs and an expanding labor force, South Carolina’s unemployment rate continued to climb in December reaching 9.5%, the State Employment Security Commission reported today. This is more than a full percentage point above November’s rate of 8.4%, and the highest rate since January 1983. The state’s labor force grew nearly 14,300 in December to 2,184,613. The number of unemployed grew almost 25,600 to 207,171, the highest level on record. The national unemployment rate also rose sharply, climbing from 6.7% in November to 7.2% in December.

The number of jobs in the state plummeted 22,000 in December to 1,906,900. This is the largest December job loss on record. Leading the downturn was Professional and Business Services (-8,500), followed by Leisure and Hospitality (-6,300), Manufacturing (-2,100), and Construction (-1,400). Construction has posted losses for the last 14 consecutive months, while Manufacturing has posted nine consecutive months of job losses. The overall job count dropped to 54,100 below the previous year’s level.

Roosevelt T. Halley, Executive Director of the Commission, said “the unemployment and job count data for 2008 will be revised over the next month through the annual benchmarking process mandated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The updated data series will be released along with the January 2009 estimates.”

# 21 Darlington County December 2008 Rate = 11.7%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points.