Webster County’s unemployment rate decreased five-tenths of a percentage point to 4.5 percent in September.
The county’s jobless rate was 5 percent in August and 4.9 percent in September 2017. This September’s rate was the lowest recorded since that of 4.4 percent in March 2017.
Mississippi Department of Employment Security statistics from 1990 forward show the county’s highest unemployment rate for September came in 2009, when it reached 14.4 percent. The lowest rate for that period was in 1998, when it dropped to 4 percent.
The number of unemployed Webster Countians in September decreased by 10 to 180. The labor force, which is made up of everyone who has a job or is looking for one, increased by 110 to 3,920.
The state’s unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 4.5 percent in September while the national average, also unadjusted, was 3.6 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month at 3.3 percent while Jefferson had the highest at 13.7 percent.
September jobless rates in adjoining counties:
• Calhoun, 3.8 percent.
• Grenada, 4 percent.
•Choctaw,4.2 percent.
