By Patrick Phillips| March 4, 2021 at 9:13 AM EST - Updated March 4 at 2:18 PM
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - The state’s Department of Employment and Workforce says just more than 4,000 filed their first claim for unemployment in the last week.
SCDEW said for the week ending Saturday, it received a total of 4,089 initial claims, up from 3,705 in the week ending Feb. 20, the lowest total reported in 2021.
That brings the total since March 15 of last year who have filed that first claim to 854,215.
For last week, Greenville County had the highest number of claims at 346 and Richland County had the second-highest at 320. Greenwood, Spartanburg and Horry Counties rounded out the top five counties.
Charleston County had the sixth-highest total at 186, with Berkeley County trailing in eighth place with 153.
Dorchester County had 104 claims, putting it in a tie for the 10th highest number of claims with Aiken County.
In the week ending Saturday, SCDEW paid out $72.9 million in state and federal benefits.
Since the pandemic began almost a full year ago, SCDEW said it has paid out a total of $5.4 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits.
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