The Official Web Site of the State of South Carolina

Job Openings and Labor Turnover, August 2025

By Lainey Stalnaker, Data Analytics Writer

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), provides essential information on South Carolina’s labor market.  In August of 2025, South Carolina’s unemployed persons per job opening ratio was 0.9. The U.S. ratio was 1.0. Both ratios were unchanged from the previous month. 

Ratio of Unemployed Persons Per Job Opening, August 2023 - August 2025

The table below compares unemployed persons per job opening ratios in the Southeast Region.  South Carolina’s ratio was slightly higher in August 2025 compared to one year ago. 

 Other key statistics released in the monthly JOLTS report include:
-    Job openings rate: the number of positions open during the month as a percentage of all jobs and job openings. 
-    Hires rate: the number of people hired during the month as a percentage of total employment.
-    Separations rate: the number of people separated from their jobs during the month as a percentage of total employment. The quits rate is the proportion of people who voluntarily left their jobs, and the layoffs and discharges rate is the proportion of people who involuntarily left their jobs, which may have resulted from business closures, layoffs, downsizing, or firing for cause. Separations resulting from retirements, transfers, or deaths are included in the total separations rate. 
 

In August of 2025, South Carolina recorded the highest hires rate in the Southeast region at 4.2, up from 3.9 in July. The state’s job openings rate was also high, tying with North Carolina for second highest in the region. At 0.9, South Carolina’s layoffs and discharges rate showed little change. In the last 12 months, the rate of layoffs and discharges hit a peak of 1.6 in October of 2024. The rate has since fallen and has hovered at historically low levels. Additionally, the total separations rate hit a twelve-month low in August but remains slightly elevated compared to some neighboring states, primarily because of a slightly higher quits rate. 

      
[1]https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jltst.nr0.htm

[2] The Southeast Region is defined by the Department of Labor and includes Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.