Jobless Rate Drops After Climbing For Three Months

Jobless Rate Drops After Climbing For Three Months

By David Howell

Editor

WATER VALLEY – The county’s jobless rate dipped to 5.9 percent in March following a three month increase that started in December when the rate jumped to 7.5 percent according to the latest statistics from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES). With the decrease, 300 people in the county were unemployed out of a total labor force of 5,070. In December, there were 400 people in the county listed as unemployed.

The labor force is defined as the estimated number of people eligible for work or actively seeking employment. But those figures don’t include people who have given up looking for work or no longer participating in the labor force.

The March rate of 5.9 percent is the lowest the county has recorded for March in five years, and almost half of the 11.9 percent posted in 2011 when the area was still climbing out a recession that started in 2008.

In comparison with the five surrounding counties, Yalobusha’s rate is higher than Lafayette (4.5), Calhoun (5.2) and Grenada (5.0) but lower than Panola (7.0) and Tallahatchie (6.9).

Initial unemployment claims were reported as 27, identical to February when the county’s unemployment rate was 6.6 percent. Continued claims dropped in March to 172, compared to 215 in February. MDES paid $34,903 for unemployment benefits in the county in March, as compared to $40,086 in February. 

For the month of March, 30 counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than the state’s rate of 5.6 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of March at 3.7 percent, followed by DeSoto County at 4.1 percent. Issaquena County had the highest unemployment rate for March at 17.7 percent, followed by Jefferson County at 14.8 percent.