The state workforce department is laying off its own workers.The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) will downsize by about 136 employees by next June.
DEW spokeswoman Adrienne Fairwell says the elimination of $9 million of federal funding for the federal programs for emergency unemployment compensation and extended benefits will result in statewide 55 layoffs this week, and a total of 136 by next June.
She says the agency, through their internal town hall meetings, made employees aware that this was coming and they are trying to make layoffs as seamless as possible for the affected employees.
Fairwell says these are difficult decisions, brought about by positive trends.
“The decrease in federal funding equals your workload, so if your workload and the unemployment all rate go down, so does the federal funding,” says Fairwell. “The good news side of this story: individuals going back to work.”
Agency officials say they are hopeful that phase two of the program will be managed through employees normally retiring or resigning.
Fairwell stresses that this will not affect Department of Workforce services or resources.
