SC jobless rate falls to 6.4 percent in January

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's unemployment has gone down for the eighth month in a row.

The state Department of Employment and Workforce said Monday that unemployment was 6.4 percent in January.

That's a drop from December's jobless rate of 6.6 percent. State officials said December was the first time in more than a decade that South Carolina's unemployment had been below the national rate.

In January, the number of employed people in South Carolina reached a record high of nearly 2,031,000. That's an increase of more than 22,000 people over the past year.

Non-agricultural jobs in South Carolina went down by 4,800 in January but are up by 37,000 compared to a year ago.