With school back in session, unemployment rates again took a major dip throughout the state and the Golden Triangle in August, according to labor statistics released Wednesday by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Jobless rates in both Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties dropped by 1.7 percent compared to last month’s figures while the unemployment rate in Clay and Noxubee counties each dropped by 2.4 percent.
The MDES report shows there are just over 4,000 eligible workers over age 16 who are jobless in four counties combined.
Comparing August’s numbers to those of a year ago and five years ago, the drop in jobless rates are even more dramatic. Clay County, which anticipates the opening of Phase 1 operations at the new Yokohama Tire Company facility next month, saw its jobless rate fall by 4.5 percent compared to a year ago. Noxubee County’s rate is 3.9 percent lower than in August 2014 while Lowndes County’s rate fell by 3.3 percent and Oktibbeha County’s rate dropped by 2 percent.
Compared to 2010, the unemployment rate has dropped precipitously for all four counties – 7.3 percent in Clay, 6.2 percent in Noxubee, 5.3 percent in Lowndes and 4.5 percent in Oktibbeha.
Among the state’s 15 largest cities, for the first time in five years, Columbus is not the state’s leader in unemployment. The city’s current 9.7 percent jobless rate is third, behind Greenville and Vicksburg, both with a 10. 1 rate. Over the past year, the unemployment rate in the city has dropped by 6 percent, and the jobless rate has been cut almost is half from the 18.8 percent rate in August 2010.
Oktibbeha County has the lowest current unemployment rate in the Golden Triangle at 5.5 percent, just lower than the statewide rate of 5.6. The U.S. Unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percent to 5.2 percent during the past month.
Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased 1.3 percentage points from the previous month’s rate of 6.9 percent. When compared to the August 2014 rate of 7.7 percent, the rate decreased 2.1 percentage points. The number of unemployed decreased 17,400 over the month, while the employed total decreased 5,800 from the prior month.
The nation’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August 2015 — at 5.2 percent — decreased four-tenths of a percentage point over the month and was 1.1 percentage points lower than the year ago rate of 6.3 percent. Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment increased 6,900 over the month and was 8,500 higher than one year ago.
State industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment gains were Government; Educational & Health Services; and Professional & Business Services. For the month of August 2015, twenty-nine counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 5.6 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of August at 3.3 percent followed by Madison County at 3.8 percent. Issaquena County had the highest unemployment rate for August at 13.7 percent followed by Jefferson County at 13.5 percent.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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