Lexington County unemploymnt claims are down from 492 to 406.

Initial unemployment claims elsewhere in SC rose for the week ending Aug. 15 after a 4-week decline.

Greenville County had 689 claims, Richland County 672, Charleston County 440 and Spartanburg County 412.

The 7,255 claims represented an increase of 1,334 from the previous week, according to the SC Department of Employment and Workforce.

In the last 22 weeks, 719,704 initial claims have been filed.

The agency has paid more than $3.81 billion in state and federal benefits.

Dan Ellzey, DEW executive director, said the 4 weeks from July 25 to Aug. 15 had 34,279 initial claims, down from the 67,248 claims filed from June 27 to July 18.