May 19, 2013
March 11, 2009
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina's unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in a quarter century, but there's some good news for the state's hard-hit rural counties -- hundreds of new jobs.
Development officials said Wednesday the Crane Co. will close a vending machine factory outside St. Louis and consolidate the operation at its Dixie-Narco plant in Williston in Barnwell County.
That will mean an estimated 1,000 jobs over five years, with almost all the workers to be hired locally.
In addition, Force Five Environmental is spending $2.5 million to open a plant in Laurens County to make windows and doors. The plant should open next month and is expected to create another 200 jobs.
Unemployment in South Carolina was 10.4 percent in January.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
