Starting a business on unemployment in South Carolina

Self-Employment Assistance in South Carolina

No. South Carolina doesn’t run Self-Employment Assistance, so unemployment is for people looking for work.

How self-employment affects your benefit

The DEW handbook lists being self-employed full time as a reason you are not eligible. Part-time self-employment income must be reported as earnings, and the part above 25% of your weekly benefit is deducted.

If your earnings are less than your weekly benefit, the part above one-fourth (25%) of your weekly benefit is deducted from your benefit.

Your weekly job search

Each week you certify, complete at least two electronically verifiable work searches while logged into your SC Works Online Services (SCWOS) account, starting the week you file. You must register in SCWOS at jobs.scworks.org.

Pontia keeps your job-search record for you and links to SC Works Online Services (SCWOS), so your plan and your search run side by side.

Other help in South Carolina

• South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department (SCVRD): SCVRD Policy CSP 4.52 (effective 12/1/2023) offers three tiers of self-employment services: gig/freelance work, sole proprietor, and business ownership. Business plans are developed with SC SBDC or SCORE.
• Medicaid: South Carolina did not expand Medicaid, so the new federal work requirement for expansion adults does not apply here. SC has not expanded Medicaid, so the federal expansion-group requirement (from 1 Jan 2027) does not apply. SC was not on CMS's June 2026 list of non-expansion states with 1115 waiver populations covered (GA, TN, WI).
• SBA Microloans of up to $50,000, and free advice from your local SBDC and SCORE mentors.
• On SSI or SSDI: PASS and the SSDI trial work period let you test a business.

Questions