How many people are laid off in South Carolina each month?
Refreshed annually
There were about 28,000 layoffs and discharges in December 2025. This includes all terminations of employment by an employer — called layoffs and discharges — such as permanent layoffs, temporary layoffs, and terminations because of mergers, downsizing, closings, or employee performance.
27.2K
people were laid off or discharged in South Carolina on average each month in 2025
326K
layoffs and discharges in South Carolina in 2025
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of [348,105] layoffs and discharges a year in [South Carolina]. Increases in layoffs often reflect recessions or other economic disruption. For example, record-setting layoffs and discharges occurred in March and April of 2020 because of COVID-19. So far in [2025], layoffs and discharges total [325,000], which is [2.2% higher] than the same period in [2024].
In South Carolina, layoffs were 1.2% higher in 2025 than in 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in South Carolina, not seasonally adjusted
What is the layoff rate in South Carolina?
Another way to consider this data is to look at the layoff and discharge rate. This puts layoffs and discharges in the context of the total number of people working by showing layoffs and discharges as a percent of employed people who were laid off during the given time period. This rate allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
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South Carolina's monthly layoff rate ranged from 0.7% to 1.8% in 2025.
Seasonally adjusted South Carolina monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–December 2025
In December 2025, 1.2% of people employed in South Carolina were laid off or discharged, a higher rate than November. Compared to the the national numbers, the December 2025 rate in South Carolina was higher, meaning a higher share of the South Carolina working population was laid off or dismissed in December 2025 compared to the US overall.
Average layoff and discharge rates are also useful to consider because they smooth out short-term fluctuations and clarify long-term trends.
In 2025, South Carolina's average monthly layoff rate was higher than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and South Carolina, November 2001–December 2025
During the first 20 years of data, the 12-month average layoff and discharge rate in the US peaked at the end of the Great Recession in June 2009 at 1.8% and during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 at 2.4%. South Carolina’s 12-month average layoff rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the US rate in June 2009 and 0.2 percentage points lower in May 2020.
Compared to the national numbers, the average 2025 monthly layoff rate in South Carolina was higher than the national rate. At 1.2%, South Carolina's average layoff and discharge rate increased compared to the previous year.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
