Unemployment is up across the state, but labor statistics officials say that’s not cause for concern.
The state’s non-seasonally adjusted rate, which doesn’t adjust for seasonal hiring patterns, rose from 5 percent in April to 6 percent in May, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
The state’s seasonally adjusted rate fell slightly, to 5.8 percent in May from 6 percent in April.
Mississippi’s seasonally and non-seasonally adjusted rates are higher than the national average. The county’s seasonally-adjusted rate was 4.7 percent for May, and the non-seasonally adjusted rate was 4.5 percent.
In the Golden Triangle, Oktibbeha County reported the lowest unemployment rate, at 6 percent. Lowndes County reported a 6.5 percent unemployment rate, and Clay County had the highest, at 8.4 percent. County unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
The county-level unemployment rates are higher. Clay County’s rate is up from a revised rate of 6.9 percent in April; Lowndes County is up from a revised 5.2 percent rate in April; and Oktibbeha County is up from a revised 4.5 percent unemployment rate.
Columbus, the only Golden Triangle city listed in the MDES report, saw its unemployment rate jump from 8.1 percent in April’s revised figures to 9.5 percent in May.
MDES Labor Market Information Chief Mary Willoughby said the heightened unemployment rate is typical for the early summer, when students who are getting out of school are counted as joining the labor force.
She said most college students are out of school by the week of reference, or the week of May 12. She said the rate will likely go up again in June, as high school students who finish school after May 12 join the labor force.
“The unadjusted rate for the state, going back to 1980, has always gone up from April to May,” she said. “From May to June, it’s always gone up, going back to 1980. We don’t predict, but just looking at what it normally does, that will be a good indicator of what it will probably do next month.”
Willoughby said students entering the workforce had the biggest impact on unemployment figures in May, and she said it’s a seasonal pattern–the rate normally falls as students return to school and leave the workforce in August and September.
Still, unemployment rates continue to show improvement compared to one year ago. For the state as a whole, the rate fell from 6.8 percent in May 2015 to 6 percent in May 2016. In the Golden Triangle, Clay County’s rate fell from 10.1 percent last year to 8.4 percent last month; Lowndes County’s dropped from 7.5 percent to 6.5 percent; and Oktibbeha County’s fell from 6.6 percent to 6 percent.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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