S.C. unemployment claims increase by 91 in week

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Two Upstate counties and Richland County continued to see triple-digit initial unemployment claims for the week ending Aug. 7, when first-time claims statewide increased by 91 from the previous week. 

Greenville County saw a state-high 142 claims, while Richland County saw 122 and Spartanburg County 112. Eighty-two initial claims were filed in Horry County, 62 in Charleston County and 61 in Lexington County, according to data from the S.C. Department of Emplyoment and Workforce. 

For the week of Aug. 1-7, DEW paid out $6.6 million in claims to 1,432 initial claimants. Since March 15, 2020, the agency has paid out $6.5 billion in a combination of state and federael unemployment program benefits to 916,998 initial claimants. 

Federal benefits have been phasing out in the state since the end of June per a directive from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster. 

Nationally, initial unemployment claims fell by 12,000 to 375,000.