Employment and Workforce Executive Director William Floyd’s Statement

November 2025 Employment Situation

Columbia, S.C. – Last year’s federal government shutdown delayed monthly employment reporting for the last four months of 2025, including today’s release of the November data. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics was closed during the month of October, the information necessary to produce an unemployment rate for that month was not collected and could not be published. However, the payroll information from the state’s businesses for the month of October, which is an automated process, is included along with the full employment details for November in the accompanying Employment Situation report. 

“South Carolina’s labor force reached a record high in November at 2,601,819, an increase of more than 51,000 individuals over the past 12 months. This increase in the number of people working or actively looking for work resulted in an uptick in the labor force participation rate to 58.0 percent and the unemployment rate to 4.6 percent, the latter which is in line with the national unemployment rate,” said S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) Executive Director William Floyd. 

“Payroll growth continues to be consistent across most industrial sectors in the state for the month, with the largest year-over-year gains concentrated in Leisure and Hospitality and Professional and Business Services. Over the past year, payroll growth also occurred in every metropolitan region in the state, with particularly high growth in the Myrtle Beach region,” continued Floyd.

“November was also a time in which DEW highlighted our veteran services offered through SC Works, and how our agency encourages veterans and their spouses to Stay to Apply Your Skills (STAYS) in South Carolina through the STAYS program, which celebrated its one-year anniversary that month. In just one year, the program served 672 participants, partnered with 320 employers, and helped at least 260 veterans and military spouses find employment,” said Floyd.

“Our agency celebrated its Veterans in the Workforce initiative throughout November by sponsoring veteran-themed recruitment events and spotlighting success stories on social media, but we connect veteran jobseekers with employers all year round. Veterans and military spouses can visit dew.sc.gov/stays and veterans.scworks.org to learn how they can take advantage of personalized jobseeker programs and find job fairs and training opportunities tailored for them. As always, jobseekers from all backgrounds considering career changes in the new year can visit SC Works online and at centers statewide for hands-on support. Let our exceptional career specialists help you start 2026 off right,” concluded Floyd.