Friday, December 10, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Economists at the University of South Carolina say jobs will be slow to come back to South Carolina.

The economists said Thursday they expect about a 1 percent increase in jobs next year, with Charleston and Greenville seeing the largest increase.

The university's top research economist Doug Woodward says the jobs growth forecast for 2011 is not vigorous, but is better than the no growth the state has seen this year.

South Carolina has had a persistently high unemployment rate for most of this decade peaking at 12.5 percent in January.

Woodward spoke before the annual economic outlook conference to the university's Darla Moore School of Business .

The conference gives business leaders an idea of what to expect in the coming year.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)