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For the fourth consecutive month, South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped — to 8.3 percent in November from the October estimate of 8.6 percent, according to the SC Department of Employment and Workforce.

The number of unemployed people fell over the month by 6,434 to 176,953. There was a rise in the number of employed people, up 9,758 to 1,964,377. The total labor force ticked up slightly (+3,324) to 2,141,330. The unemployment rate has fallen 1.5 percentage points since November 2011.

In Chesterfield County, the unemployment rate dropped from 11.6 percent in October to 10.8 percent in November. In November, the labor workforce numbered 18,725. Of that, 16,697 were employed and 2,028 were listed as unemployed. The numbers also show a drop from the November 2011 unemployment rate of 12.7 percent for the county.

Nationally, the unemployment rate also fell from 7.9 percent in October to 7.7 percent in November. This was caused mainly by a drop of 350,000 in the overall labor force.

Since October 2012, South Carolina’s nonagricultural employment (not seasonally-adjusted) increased 7,100 to 1,880,900. In the last year, the number of jobs in the state was up 33,200 (about 1.8 percent), while the number of jobs in the U.S. grew by 1.4 percent.

Employment by Industry

• With the Christmas holiday factored in, increased hiring in Retail Trade pushed the Trade, Transportation and Utilities industry up by 1.5 percent or 5,500.

• Other positive employment trends were Government (+3,100), Education and Health Services (+1,200), Manufacturing (+1,100), Information (+200) and Financial Services (+100).

• There were some industries that lost employment since October 2012: Leisure and Hospitality (-2,200 jobs); Professional and Business Services (-1,400); and Construction (-700). These industry losses were seen in accommodation and food services in the coastal areas, administrative and support services, and Specialty Trade Contractors. The Mining and Logging industries were unchanged over the month.