Mississippi’s Employment Situation
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March 9, 2016
Jackson, MS -- Unemployment Rate Drops As Employment Continues to Increase. This is the latest information announced today by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
In January 2016 Mississippi’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent, a decrease of one-tenth of a percentage point from the December 2015 rate of 6.8 percent.
As the unemployment rate fell, the number of people working in Mississippi climbed for the 20th month in a row, increasing by 10,200 to 1,212,000. That is the highest number of Mississippians with jobs since depth of the Great Recession in 2008.
For the year since January 2015, employment in our state posted a healthy increase of 44,500.
The Labor Force, which is made up of everyone who has a job or is looking for a job, also grew in January 2016 for the 19th consecutive month, rising by 10,500 to 1,299,600.
Over the year since January 2015, the Labor Force increased by 48,500 as more Mississippians got jobs or started seeking employment.
A separate survey of Mississippi employers indicated there were 1,142,300 jobs in January 2016, which was 2,400 fewer than in December 2015 but 15,200 more than a year earlier in January 2015. Except for the slightly higher total in December 2015, the number of jobs in January 2016 was the highest since September 2008.
“The continuing growth in employment is good news for Mississippi,” said Mark Henry, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. “The work by MDES and our partners to help Mississippians obtain the skills training they need to get jobs is paying off.”
For details or questions on this information, please contact Mary Willoughby at 601-321-6260 or by email at: mwilloughby@mdes.ms.gov.
