NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the January/February 2023 issue of Trends! We now have labor force data for 21 municipalities in South Carolina on page 13 Can you tell which one was added?

On February 28, DEW put out a press release announcing the four new regional labor force analysts These LMI staff, in addition to other duties, each have responsibility over data, analysis, and engagement in one of the state’s four WIOA regions Please feel free to get in touch with them directly if you have a stake in workforce development in their area

Upstate Region: Leah Price (lmprice@dew.sc.gov)

Central Region: Daniel Lyons (DLyons@dew.sc.gov)

Pee Dee Region: Ashlyn Chastain (achastain@dew.sc.gov)

South Coast Region: Taylor Hendrix (tahendrix@dew.sc.gov)

This month’s featured article from Ashlyn is about our recently updated short-term employment projections Last month, as required under the Workforce Information Grant that we administer, DEW prepared and submitted these figures by industry and occupation for the 2022-2024 window. While no one has a crystal ball, this represents where we expect the state’s workforce, all else being equal, to be by the end of next year Overall, it is expected that there will be nearly 600,000 job openings in that time, with a little less than 50,000 of those coming from new jobs being created in South Carolina Read on for more details

If you have any questions about our state’s workforce, please don’t hesitate to contact us at lmicustomerservice@ dew.sc.gov . Thanks for reading

Bryan P Grady, Ph D Labor Market Information Director SC Department of Employment and Workforce