The last time unemployment rates in Lowndes County were this low? 2001.
The Mississippi Department of Employment Security released its unemployment data for April this week, showing jobless rates in all four Golden Triangle counties at their lowest in years.
Lowndes County’s unemployment rate for April is at 5.2 percent, the lowest rate since April 2001, when the rate was 4.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the jobless rate in Oktibbeha County in April was 4.5 percent. It had not been that low since May of 2006 and had not been lower than that since April 2001, when the unemployment rate was 4.0 percent. In addition, Oktibbeha County’s jobless rate is 0.2 percent lower than the national average and 0.5 lower than the state average.
Noxubee County’s unemployment rate for April 2016 was 6.8 percent. It has been 19 years since the county showed a lower jobless rate (6.6 percent in 1997).
Clay County’s April 2016 jobless rate was 6.9 and hasn’t been lower since April 2001, when the rate was 6.4 percent.
Mississippi’s unemployment rate for April (5.0 percent) is also the lowest its been in nearly 15 years (4.9 percent in May 2001). The national unemployment rate is at 4.7 percent, a 0.4 decline from the March rate.
Unemployment rates in all four counties continued to fall compared to last month, with declines in the jobless rates ranging from 0.5 percent (Oktibbeha County) to 0.9 percent (Noxubee).
The city of Columbus unemployment rate (9.0 percent) has fallen by almost a full point compared to April 2015 (9.9 percent), although its rate is still among the highest of the state’s 15 largest cities, trailing only Vicksburg (10.4 percent).
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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