Unemployment rates continue to rise in the Golden Triangle this summer.
Data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security show the three counties comprising the Golden Triangle — Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha — have recorded three straight months of increasing unemployment figures since May.
Each of the counties’ June figures are higher than the state’s overall 6.1 percent unemployment rate, according to MDES.
Clay County’s June unemployment rate of 8 percent is the highest of the three counties and is up from 6.7 percent in May and 5.4 percent in April, while Oktibbeha County’s 7.1 percent jumped from 5.3 percent in May and 3.9 percent in April.
Lowndes County posted the lowest rate for the month — 6.6 percent — and has experienced the slowest uptick, increasing from 5.6 percent in May and 4.4 percent in April.
Regionally, Noxubee County’s 8.7 percent unemployment rate is the highest in the area, and most counties surrounding the Golden Triangle posted rates below 6.5 percent for June.
The overall U.S. rate was 4.5 percent, according to MDES.
Only seven counties — Jefferson (16.7), Issaquena (12.2 percent), Claiborne (11.6), Humphreys (10.8), Holmes (10.4), Wilkinson (10.2) and Quitman (10.2) — posted unemployment rates higher than 10 percent.
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