Webster County’s unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point during May, according to preliminary numbers from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Webster County’s unemployment rate stood at 3.5% during May, compared to 3.4% in April and 5.7% in May 2021. This was the 24th lowest rate in the state.
The estimated number of unemployed Webster Countians in May remained at an estimated 140. The labor force, which is made up of everyone who has a job or is looking for one, decreased by 20 to an estimated 3,990.
MDES statistics from 1990 forward show the county’s highest unemployment rate for May came in 2002 when it reached 18.9%. The lowest rate for that period was this year’s 3.5%. The 12-month moving average is 4.5%.
May jobless rates in adjoining counties: Calhoun, 3.3%; Chickasaw, 4%; Choctaw, 3.4%; Clay, 4.6%; Grenada, 3.2%; Montgomery, 4.1%; and Oktibbeha, 3.8%.
Mississippi’s unemployment rate for May was 3.8% and the national jobless rate was 3.4%, both seasonally unadjusted.
