County’s Jobless Rate Eases Back Up

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County’s unemployment rate went up in September to 12.6 percent.

That is up 1.7 percent from August’s rate of 11.9 percent, according to the latest numbers from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

The September report shows that there were 40 more people working last month (4400) than in August (4360). But, the labor force (5030) was 70 people larger than in August (4960). So, there were 30 more people from the labor force not working.

The labor force is defined as the estimated number of people eligible for work or actively looking for work.

The 12.6 percent rate is lower than the September 2009 rate of 14.3 percent. However, the average rate for September during the preceding four years was only 7.5 percent.

Yalobusha’s rate is also higher than the five surrounding counties; Grenada (12.5), Tallahatchie (10), Panola (12.3), Lafayette (7.1), and Calhoun (9.8).

Initial unemployment insurance claims were about the same with 60 in August to 59 in September. Continuing claims dropped from 767 in August to 507 in September.

Mississippi’s unemployment rate for September 2010 was 9.6 percent, an increase of seven-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 8.9 percent. When compared to the September 2009 rate of 9.5 percent, the rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point. The number of unemployed increased 10,000 over the month, while the employed total increased 6,500 from the prior month.

The Nation’s unemployment rate for September 2010 at 9.2 percent was down three-tenths of a percentage point over the month and over the year.

For the month of September 2010, only eighteen counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than the state’s rate of 9.6 percent.

Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of September at 6.1 percent followed by Madison County at 6.9 percent. Five counties reported rates greater than 15.0 percent. Noxubee County had the highest unemployment rate for September at 19.9 percent followed by Clay County at 18.0 percent.