Newton County’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest percentage in more than five years when it recorded a 3.1 percent rate for November 2021.
The figures, which were released last week from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, show a 1 percent drop from October (4.1 percent) and 2.7 percent decrease from November 2020 (5.8 percent).
The unemployment rate represents 240 unemployed workers out of the civilian labor force of 7,750. There were 320 unemployed people during October and a civilian labor force of 7,820. Newton County’s labor force in November last year stood at 7,940 people with 460 unemployed persons.
The county rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Mississippi’s nonseasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for November 2021 was 3.0 percent, decreasing 0.9 percent from October (3.9 percent). November 2020 had a rate of 6.3 percent, decreasing 3.3 percentage points over the past year.
The number of jobless workers decreased 11,600 over the month, while the employed total increased 6,100 from the prior month. The national unemployment rate for November 2021 stands at 3.9 percent, decreasing 0.4 percent versus over the month and was 2.5 percentage points lower than the 2020 rate (6.4 percent).
Mississippi’s nonfarm employment stands at 1.16 million. The industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment gains were trade, transportation and utilities; government and manufacturing.
For the month of November 2021, 34 counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 3.0 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of November at 2.0 percent followed by Lafayette and Union Counties at 2.1 percent. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for November at 10.2 percent followed by Humphreys County at 7.0 percent.
