The unemployment rate in Tallahatchie County rose from 6.8% in December to 6.9% in January, the Mississippi Department of Employment Security has reported.
The MDES, which compiles the state’s employment data, noted that 350 members of the county’s 5,100-person labor force were unemployed in January. The labor force consists of everyone who has a job or is actively looking for a job.
In December, 330 of 4,850 Tallahatchie County labor force members were jobless.
The county’s January unemployment rate was one-tenth of 1% lower than the 7.0% figure recorded in January 2020, when 370 of 5,210 available laborers 16 and older did not find work.
Mississippi’s jobless rate fell from 6.5% in December to 6.2% in January. However, it remained seven-tenths of 1% higher than the 5.5% rate recorded in January 2020.
The MDES reported that the number of unemployed persons in Mississippi decreased by 1,600 from December to January, while the total number of the employed rose 5,000 over the same period.
Thirty-two of the state’s 82 counties posted unemployment rates less than the state’s rate of 6.2%.
Nationally, the jobless rate fell from 6.7% in December to 6.3% in January but remained 2.8% higher than the 3.5% rate one year ago.
The January unemployment rates for selected area counties, with December figures in parenthesis, are:
» Coahoma, 11.0 (9.4)
» Grenada, 5.9 (5.4)
» Lafayette, 4.5 (4.4)
» Leflore, 10.2 (9.4)
» Panola, 8.3 (7.8)
» Quitman, 10.1 (9.6)
» Sunflower, 11.1 (9.7)
» Yalobusha, 6.5 (6.5)
At 17.0%, Jefferson County had the state’s highest jobless rate in January. Rankin County’s 3.7% was the lowest.
