Latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Midlands

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The South Carolina National Guard is making sure as many of its 11,000 members as possible are employed full-time in the civilian world.

The Guard's top commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston, says the Guard has driven its 16 percent unemployment rate down to around four percent over the past year.

Livingston says the Guard goes so far as to schedule job interviews for soldiers and airmen even before they've returned from overseas deployments.

This comes even as South Carolina has grappled with an unemployment rate around nine percent. He says it comes from working hard at networking and making sure Guard men and women improve their job-seeking skills.