The construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has announced that it will shut down its Summerville plant next year, putting nearly 300 people out of work

The Charleston Post & Courier reports that Caterpillar executives made the decision after an extensive strategic review of the company. Company officials said the business wants to be more competitive and the Summerville branch will not be useful as a long-term operation.

The Summerville remanufacturing factory tears down, recycles and rebuilds heavy-duty transmissions for original equipment makers, which then resell the parts to aftermarket buyers.

The Summerville plant is expected to close sometime in mid-summer 2014. This will affect 280 employees. Full-time Summerville employees will receive severance packages, and the company said it plans to work with agencies that provide outplacement services.

Caterpillar also has other plants in Sumter and Greenville, as well as a logistics operation in Fountain Inn.

The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce is reporting that the state’s  seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate declined slightly to 8.4 percent in March from February’s rate of 8.6 percent. The number of employed people was 1,992,113, and the unemployed totaled 182,978, which is the lowest level since October of 2008, according to SCDEW.

From February to March, the state’s labor force saw a minor decline to 2,175,091. Nationally, the unemployment rate fell from 7.7 percent in February to 7.6 percent in March.

Non-farm jobs (not seasonally adjusted) in the state increased 18,200 from February to March to a total of 1,875,200. Leisure and Hospitality reported the largest gain (+9,800) as the tourism season gears up. The largest part of the increase was felt in the Accommodation and Food Service subsector.

Improvements in March were also reported in Professional and Business Services (+2,600; mostly in the Employment Services subsector); Government (+2,200; generally in Local Government); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+1,900; mainly in Retail Trade); and Financial Activities (+1,600). Smaller increases were seen in Other Services (+700) and Manufacturing (+600).

Three industries reported losses: Construction (-400; primarily in Specialty Trade Contractors), Information (-400), and Education and Health Services (-400; mostly in Healthcare and Social Assistance).

Since March 2012, non-farm jobs in the state have increased 24,700. The largest over-the-year rise was in Leisure and Hospitality (+11,300), followed by Government (+5,700); Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (+4,400); and Financial Activities (+4,200).

 Increases in Manufacturing (+1,400) and Construction (+1,000) also helped push growth.

The worst drop in the last year was reported in Professional and Business Services (-4,100).