Tallahatchie County’s July unemployment rate rose to 6.3 percent, its lowest level for the month in more than two decades.
The Mississippi Department of Employment Security reported that the July rate was an increase of six-tenths of 1 percent from June’s 5.7 percent.
In July, 370 Tallahatchians were unemployed, and 5,520 employed, from a local labor force totaling 5,890.
In June, 330 had been jobless, while 5,500 were working, among a labor force of 5,830, according to MDES.
Tallahatchie County’s July unemployment rate was 1 percent lower than the 7.3 percent figure of one year ago, when 430 local residents were unemployed, and 5,440 employed, among a labor force of 5,870.
The national rate of unemployment during July was 4.6 percent, a slight improvement from June’s 4.5 percent figure and a drop of six-tenths of one percentage point from the 5.1 percent rate recorded in July 2016.
Mississippi’s jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent in July, unchanged from June’s figure, and was three-tenths of 1 percent better than the 6.4 percent rate of one year ago.
July unemployment rates for select area counties, with June figures in parenthesis, are:
- Coahoma, 8.8 (9.1)
- Grenada, 5.5 (5.5)
- Leflore, 8.6 (8.8)
- Panola, 8.2 (8.0)
- Quitman, 10.4 (10.0)
- Sunflower, 8.7 (8.9)
- Yalobusha, 7.1 (6.6)
Jefferson County had the highest July jobless rate in the state, at 17.0 percent, while Rankin and Union counties tied for the lowest, at 4.1.
