Sumter, S.C. jobless claims more than double in a week

After a 1,600% spike and 31,054 initial unemployment claims were reported in the first week when the coronavirus started to grip the state’s economy, jobless claims staggeringly more than doubled last week.

A total of 64,856 residents who both live and work in South Carolina filed an initial claim last week for the week ending Saturday, according to a Thursday state Department of Employment and Workforce release. For the two-week period, 95,910 South Carolinians have filed initial claims with the agency.

The previous highest total of initial claims filed within one week in the state was in 2002. That benchmark was about 41,000.

For perspective, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused national and state-level declarations about two weeks ago to close restaurants, schools and other facilities, the state agency was averaging weekly about 2,000 new claims.

Economists and lawmakers had anticipated that the state’s hospitality and tourism industries would be severely curtailed in the crisis as state and local governments have told residents to stay at home and avoid groups. On March 17, Gov. Henry McMaster banned dine-in service at bars and restaurants across the state, allowing only food takeout and delivery options instead.

With the continued expected spread of the novel coronavirus across South Carolina and the U.S. and additional executive orders from McMaster, many more industries have been stressed and laid-off workers in the service sector as well as in manufacturing.

The breakdown of county-level initial unemployment claims’ totals for the week ending Saturday followed a similar pattern as the week ending Saturday, March 21. Also, as the state’s total claims doubled last week, many counties saw their totals roughly double.

In the tri-county area, Sumter County’s initial claims more than doubled last week, reaching 811 from 316 in the prior week. Considerably smaller counties than Sumter, Clarendon and Lee also had initial claims more than double last week from the week prior. Clarendon’s claims total was 212 last week, and Lee was at 97.

Tourism-dependent Horry County, home of Myrtle Beach, had the most filed initial claims last week of any county in the state with 9,672. In the prior week, Horry also led the state, but its total was 5,258.

A leading major metropolitan area for jobs in the state, Charleston County – which is also along the coast – was second again in claims with 7,845. In the prior week, it had 4,183 claims.

Generally considered another leading major metro in South Carolina, Greenville and Spartanburg counties in the Upstate had a combined total of 9,660 new claims last week. Their individual county totals were 6,556 for Greenville and 3,104 for Spartanburg. In the prior week, Greenville-Spartanburg combined had 4,820 claimants.