South Carolina’s unemployment rate has climbed to 8.4% after another 11,500 people lost their jobs last month. That’s well above the national average unemployment rate of 6.7% for November. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

An additional 11,500 people in South Carolina joined the ranks of the unemployed last month, driving the state’s jobless rate to 8.4 percent.

Georgia’s unemployment rate climbed to 7.5 percent in November, the highest rate in more than 25 years.

The cost of electricity is going up in South Carolina. State utility regulators agreed yesterday to allow South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. to implement a midyear rate increase.

The current economic downturn is no doubt having an effect on the local unemployment rate.

Out come the sweaters, up goes the thermostat. It’s that time of the year…but consistent with many other things going up during these economic times, natural gas is also pricier this year. WJBF News Channel 6’s Joy Howe tells us how many customers may soon be feeling extra heat in their wallets.

Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said Tuesday that the final graduation rate for 2008 reached 75.4 percent, an increase of three percentage points from 2007 and the first time it passed 75 percent of students graduating on time.