S.C unemployment continues to drop

Good news that unemployment figures have droppedUnsplash

South Carolina’s Department of Employment and Workforce has announced it has received the lowest total of initial unemployment claims last week it has recorded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the week ending Saturday, SCDEW received 1,710 initial unemployment claims.

It is the fifth consecutive week since mid-March 2020 that the agency recorded a new low in totals.

It was also the third straight week the total first-time claims remained below 2,000.

The highest county total last week was in Greenville County with 182, followed by Spartanburg County’s 159. Richland County in the Midlands recorded 123 claims.

None of the Lowcountry counties reported more than 100, but Charleston County had the highest in the region with 93.

During last week, the state paid out a total of $54.5 million in a combination of state and federal unemployment benefits.

Since the pandemic began, the state has paid out a total of more than $6.36 billion.

The state recorded its highest total of first-time claims for the week ending April 11, 2020, when 87,686 were received.

In other employment news, S.C state officials are warning of an unemployment text scam. According to WJCL News, scammers are trying to take advantage of people looking for work.

Officials at the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) sent direct warnings to unemployment recipients. They said the agency has become aware of a fraudulent attempt to take money from South Carolinians.

The scheme involves a text message that links to a copycat website that looks exactly like the state's official MyBenefits portal.

Dew spokesperson Heather Biance claims the scammers are likely trying to capture usernames and passwords, which could then be sold on the black market or used for other criminal activity. Many con artists assume an air of authority to win your trust. But resist the urge to click on links in texts and email unless you are 100 percent sure where they originated. Never respond to these communications without verifying the source.

Kersha Cartwright, Communications Director for the Georgia Department of Labor told WJCL News, "We're asking people to be very careful. We don't send text messages asking for your birthday or your social security number or copies of your driver's license and things such as that. We're not going to send you a text about that. We're not going to ask you to send us those things back in an email, let's say from our social media platforms."

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