The Mississippi Department of Employment released the state's first unemployment figures for 2026 last week, showing Newton County’s January jobless took a slight increase.
Coming in at 3.7 percent, Newton County’s unemployment climbed three-tenths of a point higher than the December 2025 rate of 3.4%. The January 2026 jobless rate is only one-tenth of a point higher than the rate from a year ago, registering at 3.6 percent.
The county’s 3.7 percent rate is the 28th lowest in the state, sharing the ranking with three other counties: Attala, Copiah, and Tishomingo.
The estimated number of unemployed in Newton County for the month of January increased by 54, up to 294 residents, while the number of employed dropped by 159 to 7,731. Newton County’s civilian labor force also dropped down to 8,025, a decrease of 105.
Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2026 was 3.7 percent, increasing six-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 3.1 percent. When compared to the January 2025 rate of 3.9 percent, the rate decreased two-tenths of a percentage point. The Nation’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2026 at 4.7 percent increased six-tenths of a percentage point over the month and three-tenths of a percentage point from the year ago rate of 4.4 percent.
Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment at 1,180,600 jobs decreased 17,600 over the month but increased 600 over the year. Industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment losses were Trade, Transportation & Utilities; Leisure & Hospitality; and Professional & Business Services.
For the month of January 2026, thirty-one counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 3.7 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of January at 2.7 percent followed by Jones and Lafayette Counties at 2.9 percent. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for January at 9.5 percent followed by Claiborne County at 8.1 percent.
Mississippi’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2026 was 3.6 percent, decreasing one-tenth of a percentage point over the month. When compared to one year ago, the rate decreased three-tenths of a percentage point. The Nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 4.3 percent decreased one-tenth of a percentage point over the month but increased three-tenths of a percentage point from the year ago rate of 4.0 percent.
In January 2026, there were 1,191,800 nonfarm jobs in Mississippi, according to the seasonally adjusted results from a survey of Mississippi employers. The number of nonfarm jobs decreased 800 over the month but increased 1,400 over the year. The industry sector with the largest monthly employment gain was the Trade, Transportation & Utilities.
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 non-seasonal movements in a data series. Amounts are seasonally adjusted at the National and State levels only.
