Webster County’s unemployment rate decreased two-tenths of a percentage point during July, according to preliminary numbers from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Webster’s unemployment rate stood at 3.8% during July, which was tied with three other counties as the 20th-lowest rate in the state. This compares to 4% in June and 4.9% in July 2022. The 12-month moving average is 3.4%.
The number of unemployed Webster Countians in July decreased by 10 to an estimated 140. The labor force — the number of qualified employees working or seeking to work — decreased by 60 to an estimated 3,760.
Records dating back to 1990 show the county’s highest unemployment rate for July was recorded in 2002, when it reached 18.3%. This year’s 3.8% rate was the lowest seen for July.
July jobless rates in adjoining counties: Calhoun, 4.1%; Chickasaw, 5.4%; Choctaw, 3.5%; Clay, 4.4%; Grenada, 4.2%; Montgomery, 4%; and Oktibbeha, 4.3%. Rankin and Union counties posted the lowest unemployment rate at 2.9% each while Jefferson County had the highest at 14.8%.
Mississippi’s unemployment rate for July was 4% while the national jobless rate was 3.8%, neither seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted, the state’s unemployment rate dropped to a new low of 3% and the nation’s was 3.5%.
