S.C. initial unemployment claims rise by 232 in week

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As Gov. Henry McMaster directed South Carolina to terminate all federal unemployment program benefits, the number of initial unemployment claims filed in the state increased by 232 from the previous week.

For the week ending May 8, the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce paid out $61 million in a combination of state and federal benefits as 3,088 initial claims were filed, up from 2,856 from previous week. Since March 15, 2020, $6.1 billion in benefits has been paid out, according to DEW data.

On May 6, McMaster sent a letter to Dan Ellzey, DEW executive director, calling for the termination of the following federal programs:

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
• Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation
• Emergency Unemployment Relief for Governmental Entities and Nonprofit Organizations
• Temporary Federal Funding of the First Week of Compensable Regular Unemployment for States with No Waiting Week

McMaster said federal benefits were only meant to be short-term assistance for the “vulnerable and displaced” during the height of the pandemic but have now “turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace.”

Ellzey said in a statement that there are currently 81,684 open positions in the state. South Carolina’s March unemployment rate stood at 5.1%.

For the week ending May 8, Greenville County saw 299 initial unemployment claims, while Spartanburg County had 292. Richland County had 251, Horry County 158, Charleston County 158 and Lexington County 136.

Nationally, initial unemployment claims dropped by 34,000 to 473,000.