Fueled by growth in the leisure and hospitality sector to include hotels and restaurants and other industry sectors, South Carolina added 4,600 jobs in November.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Regional Economist Laura Ullrich, based in Charlotte, provided her analysis of South Carolina’s official November employment report on Friday with some state media outlets. After adding 6,700

After adding 6,700 jobs in October and 4,600 in November, the state remains down 37,900 jobs - a 1.7% decline - from February 2020 and pre-pandemic levels, Ullrich said.

That is better than the U.S. overall, which is down 3.9 million — or 2.6% — in its job recovery.

Leisure and hospitality performed the strongest of any sector in the state for the month, adding 2,500 jobs. However, the sector remains down 23,300 jobs — or 8.5% — when compared to pre-COVID-19.

Professional and business services to include management, consulting and temporary employment firms was the second strongest performing sector in November, adding 2,100 jobs. Construction added another 1,100 jobs and continues to have positive growth this year, she added.

Two sectors lost jobs for the month, according to the employment report. Those were manufacturing (-2,000) and retail trade, transportation and utilities (-1,000).

Ullrich said in many counties in the state employment has fully recovered.

Job openings are still especially noticeable in leisure and hospitality, but some of these workers have shifted to other sectors, Ullrich said.

“There has certainly been some shifting in job markets as people have changed jobs and changed industries,” she said. “Some of the individuals who represent the 23,300 jobs loss in leisure and hospitality also represent the job gain of 10,700 that we’ve seen in the trade, transportation and utilities sector.”

Unemployment Survey Report

In a separate report for November released Friday, South Carolina’s unemployment rate decreased from 3.9% to 3.7% in November.

Locally, Lexington County’s unemployment rate was 2.3% (the same as it was in October), while Richland County stood at 3% (down from 3.1% in October), Newberry County clocked in at 2.5% (up from 2.4% in October), Saluda County posted 2.4% (the same as it was in October), Aiken County stood at 2.6% (the same as it was in October) and Orangeburg County posted 5.7% (down from 6% in October).

The monthly national rate decreased from 4.6% to 4.2%. A broad measure of U.S. unemployment, to include individuals marginally attached to the labor force plus people working only parttime for economic reasons, was 7.8%. At peak employment in February 2020, it was 7.4%.