Florence County Unemployment:

 

Annual
2007

Annual
2008

Sept.
2009

Labor Force 62,425 63,301 64,926
# Unemployed 3,767 4,514 7,580
Unemployment Rate 6.0% 7.1% 11.7%

 Florence MSA Labor Force September 2009: 97,172

Source: South Carolina Employment Security Commission


Florence Region Labor Market - September 2009

 

County

 

Total Labor Force

 

# Unemployed



% Unemployed

Chesterfield 18,716 3,152 16.8%
Clarendon 12,311 1,980 16.1%
Darlington 32,246 4,188 13.0%
Dillon 12,852 2,205 17.2%
Florence 64,926 7,580 11.7%
Lee 8,191 1,285 15.7%
Marion 13,046 2,742 21.0%
Marlboro 11,639 2,351 20.2%
Sumter MSA 43,176 5,990 13.9%
Williamsburg 15,206 2,344 15.4%
Region Total 232,309 33,817 14.5%
SC Total 2,170,607 251,975 11.6%
       
US Average     9.5%

 
Regional Unemployment Trends

Month

 

Florence County

 

Pee Dee Region

 

South Carolina

Sept. '08 7.5% 9.6% 7.3%
Oct. '08 8.2% 10.4% 8.0%
Nov. '08 8.0% 10.5% 8.4%
Dec. '08 9.1% 11.9% 9.5%
Jan. '09 10.7% 13.3% 10.4%
Feb. '09 11.0% 14.3% 10.9%
March '09 11.2% 14.2% 11.4%
April '09 11.1% 14.4% 11.5%
May '09 11.4% 14.5% 12.0%
June '09 12.0% 15.4% 12.1%
July '09 11.7% 15.0% 11.8%
Aug. '09 11.5% 14.4% 11.7%
Sept. '09 11.7% 14.5% 11.6%


2009 Employment by Industry

Since 1997, companies such as Honda, Heinz, Monster, Roche, General Electric, QVC, Johnson Controls and others have created more than 6,000 jobs in Florence County via the construction of new facilities or the expansion of existing operations. South Carolina’s Ready SC has provided recruitment and pre-employment training services for approximately half of these new positions. The average ratio of applicants to openings for these new jobs has been 11.5 to 1 (i.e., for every potential new job, more than 11 applicants have applied for each training slot).

Median Household Income:
  30 Miles 40 Miles 60 Miles
1990 $21,491 $21,052 $21,347
2000 $31,571 $30,966 $31,469
2005 $35,743 $35,220 $36,083
Source:  CACI Marketing Systems, using radii as measured from the intersection of I-95 & SR 327 in Florence, SC

Florence County Gross Retail Sales & Net Taxable Sales Data:
Fiscal Year (July to June) Gross Sales Net Taxable Sales
2003-2004 $3,779,812,020 $1,629,404,970
2002-2003 $3,558,746,845 $1,625,924,620
2001-2002 $3,205,691,023 $1,532,245,767
2000-2001 $3,094,418,263 $1,400,708,934

Florence County is ranked number 7 out of the 46 counties in South Carolina (1-Charleston, 2-Richland, 3-Greenville, 4-Lexington, 5-Spartanburg, 6-Horry)
Source: South Carolina Department of Revenue


Miscellaneous Labor Data for Florence County:
Males in Labor Force 47%
Females in Labor Force 53%
Population Working Outside the County 12.3%
Average Commute Time to Work 18.9 minutes
Source: South Carolina Department of Commerce, Census Data

Additional Reading: