Businesses still need workers
Unfilled jobs are plentiful.
But the unemployed are still filing for benefits.
104 of the unemployed filed an initial unemployment claim in Lexington County last week.
That was less than Greenville County with 222, Spartanburg County with 195, Richland County 175 claims, Charleston County 120 and Horry County 109. 
The total payout to S.C. residents in a combination of state and federal unemployment benefits since March 15, 2020 has topped $6.2 billion.
The SC Department of Employment and Workforce paid out $49.6 million in benefits for the week ending May 22, when 2,061 initial unemployment claims were filed. 
That represented a drop of 484 initial claims from the previous week.
Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered federal unemployment pay ended by the end of June due to its effect on people willing to go back to work.
Critics of federal payouts say they are too generous and keep workers at home.
Nationally, 406,000 initial unemployment claims were filed, a drop of 38,000 from the previous week.

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