South Carolina reports 515,000 jobs lost; $1.3B paid in unemployment

COLUMBIA, S.C. — (AP) — Leaders at South Carolina’s unemployment agency said the system has mostly weathered the first part of the COVID-19 storm as more than 500,000 people have filed claims in the nine weeks since the virus partially shut down the state.

But officials say the next step of finding jobs may be harder as businesses look to replace employees with technology, such as kiosks instead of human cashiers at fast food restaurants.

Also Thursday, the president at the University of South Carolina told trustees he expects a 10% drop in the number of students in the fall. The school has about 35,000 students.

Lawmaker says NC commerce has the money to handle unemployment backlog better Lawmaker says NC commerce has the money to handle unemployment backlog better

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