As the summertime rolls in, Choctaw County saw a sharp increase in its unemployment rate, while the entire state saw it’s the third lowest level of unemployment ever recorded in Mississippi.
Choctaw County’s unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the month of May 2018 was 5.2 percent, a 0.9 percent increase from the April 2018 rate of 4.3 percent. The county’s March 2018 unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.
Mississippi’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May 2018 was 4.7 percent. The April rate is one-tenth of a percentage point higher than a month earlier in May 2018, when the rate was 4.6 percent and six-tenths of a percentage point lower than a year ago in May 2017, when the rate was 5.3 percent.
When compared to one year ago, the rate was six-tenths of percentage points lower than the 5.3 percent reported for May 2017.
Seasonally adjusted data removes the effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year such as the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events. These adjustments make it easier to observe the cyclical and other nonseasonal movements in a data series. Amounts are seasonally adjusted at the National and State levels only.
Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2018 was 5.1 percent, increasing nine-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 4.2 percent. When compared to the May 2017 rate of 5.4 percent, the rate decreased three-tenths of a percentage point.
The number of unemployed increased 12,000 over the month, while the employed total increased 3,000 from the prior month.
The unadjusted rate of unemployed people in Choctaw County for May 2018 was 5.2 percent, with the number of unemployed people being 200. The number of employed people in the county for May 2018 was 3,600.
In the revised April 2018 numbers, the unadjusted rate of unemployed people in Choctaw County was 4.3 percent, with the number of unemployed people being 160. The revised number of employed people in the county for April 2018 was 3,550.
The Labor Force, which is made up of everyone who has a job or is looking for a job, increased in May by 2,900 to 1,278,200. Over the year since May 2017, the Labor Force fell by 3,500.
The number of people working in Mississippi rose in May by 1,600 to 1,218,700. For the year since May 2017, employment in our state increased by 4,300.
The number of unemployed Mississippians increased by 1,300 in May to 59,500; however, over the year since May 2017, the number of unemployed Mississippians decreased by 7,800.
The number of non-farm jobs in Mississippi edged downward by 300 in May to 1,164,700. The May 2018 job figure is the third highest number of jobs ever recorded in Mississippi.
For the month of May 2018, twenty-seven counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than the state’s rate of 5.1 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of May at 3.7 percent followed by Union County at 3.8 percent.
Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for May at 12.8 percent followed by Holmes County at 9.8 percent.
Over the year since May 2017, the number of jobs in our state increased by 15,900. These numbers are based on a survey of employers. That employer survey is recognized as the most reliable indicator of job growth.
For details or questions on this information, please contact Mary Willoughby at (601) 321-6260 or by email at: mwilloughby@mdes.ms.gov.
