Jobless Rate Soars To 22 Year High In July, Latest Figures Show Decline

Staff Report

    With a global recession raging in 2009, Yalobusha County’s jobless rate indicated that the effects were felt at home as the county recorded a 22-year high in July with 17.4 percent of Yalobushians unemployed.

    The July rate was the highest recorded since late 1986, when unemployment topped out at 21.1 percent in Yalobusha, before dropping to 7.5 percent at the end of 1987.

    The rate had steadily increased since January, which recorded that 14.6 percent of Yalobushians were without jobs, according to figures provided by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

    By November, which are the latest figures available, unemployment in Yalobusha was declining, dropping  a full point from 13.6 percent in October to 12.6 percent in November.

    This drop mirrored a similar path nationally, as economists reported the national unemployment report for November the best economic news of 2009. Only 11,000 jobs were lost, which is the lowest since December of 2007. The national unemployment rate fell from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent in November.

Mississippi’s rate for November 2009 also dropped, coming in at 9 percent, and decreasing from October’s rate of 9.5 percent. The number of unemployed decreased 7700 over the month while the employed total increased 6300.

The five surrounding counties all showed decreases in November,  which averaged about half a point except for Calhoun County where the rate went down almost three percent.

November’s 12.6 percent unemployment rate indicated the number of unemployed persons in the county was 680. That compares to 750 the previous month and 990 at July’s peak, when the county also had the sixth highest rate in the state.