Article by: Garret Grove
Posted:
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – If lowering the unemployment rate was Mississippi’s New Year’s resolution in 2023, the state met the goal.
Mississippi’s current 3.3% rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that not only it did do so, but lowered it more than all other Southern states over the last year. The November 2022 unemployment rate in Mississippi was 4.1%, point eight-tenths of a percentage point higher than it was in November 2023. December unemployment numbers are not yet available.
The unemployment rate in the state did not change from October in Mississippi. Over the past few months, Mississippi’s unemployment rate has steadily risen from July’s all-time low rate of 3%. Unemployment numbers in Mississippi during December are not yet available.
The nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.7% decreased two-tenths of a percentage point in November compared to October. Still, it was one-tenth of a percentage point higher than November 2022’s rate of 3.6%.
Mississippi is tied with two Southern states, Arkansas and Oklahoma, for having the fifth lowest employment in the South in November 2023. In November 2022, Mississippi was tied with West Virginia for having the highest unemployment rate in the South.
According to preliminary survey data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, there were 1,166,500 jobs in Mississippi in November 2023. This is 6,800 fewer jobs compared to November 2022.