The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released their State Employment and Unemployment Summary for the past month.
The report saw Mississippi’s employment rate drop, but the jobless rate in the Delta remains high.
In May, unemployment rates were lower in 21 states and the District of Columbia and stable in 28 states.Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 14 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 1 states, and was essentially unchanged in 35 states in May 2021.
Mississippi's unemployment rate was 6.4 percent in January, 2021 -- down a full percentage point from October's 2020 rate of 7.4 percent.
The current unemployment rate for Mississippi (as of May 2021) stands at 6.1 percent.
For comparison, the unemployment rate for May 2020 was reported as 11 percent (a 4.9 percent decrease from this point last year).
The national unemployment rate currently stands at 5.8 percent, which is 0.3 percentage points lower than April 2021 (last month's report).
It currently stands at 7.5 points lower than in May 2020.
Coahoma County
But Coahoma County notched a 9.7 unemployment rate in May and was ranked 74th among Mississippi 82 counties.
Rankin County reported the lowest rate at 3.8 percent unemployment with Jefferson County reporting the highest at 18.1 percent.
Quitman County had an 9.3 unemployment rate in May and Tunica County had 9.5 percent. Sunflower County had 10.2 percent unemployment with Tallahatchie County the best job market in the region at 5.9 percent unemployment.
Coahoma County reported a labor force of 8,330 workers in May with 7,520 of those workers employed. There were 810 people listed as unemployed in Coahoma County in May. That number does not reflect those who have stopped looking for work.
There were 190 initial claims for unemployment benefits in Coahoma County in May and 2,126 continued claims.
Local benefits paid totaled $187,390 for Coahoma in May. All benefits paid by all welfare programs in Coahoma County totaled $2,317,250 in May.
