JACKSON - Two of Mississippi's three largest urban areas are among 331 U.S. metropolitan centers that improved their jobless rates in April from a year earlier.
Mississippi was one of 20 states that had more people working in non-farm jobs this year than in 2002, according to state and metropolitan employment data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The increase in the number of people on non-farm payrolls -which counts where people work, not where they live - was slight, only 0.3 percent. But it meant that Mississippi added 3,200 jobs between April 2002 and April 2003, bringing the total number of non-farm employees working in the state to 1.13 million.
"All these people may or may not be residents of the state, but anytime you see an increase in jobs, it's good for the state," said Wayne Gasson, chief of labor market information for the Mississippi Employment Security Commission.
The April unemployment rate improved in two of the state's three largest metropolitan areas: The jobless rate fell to 4.7 percent from 5.5 percent in Biloxi-Gulfport-Pascagoula - which represents Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties. In the Hattiesburg area - which includes Forest and Lamar counties - the jobless rate fell to 3.5 percent from 4.1 percent.
Hattiesburg was one of 72 metropolitan areas whose jobless rate was below 4 percent in April. Statewide, April's jobless rate was 6 percent while the national jobless rate was 5.8 percent.
The jobless rate worsened slightly in the Jackson area - which includes Hinds, Rankin and Madison counties - rising to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent a year earlier.
But all three of the state's largest metropolitan areas fared better than the state as a whole. Rural counties with double-digit jobless rates pulled down the state average. "Historically, they would always do better than the state as a whole because of a greater concentration of business in those three areas," Gasson said.
Looking at individual job categories and how they fared since April 2002, the state added jobs in six categories and lost jobs in five others. In sheer numbers, not percentage changes, the biggest gains were in government, which added 5,500 jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities, which added 4,600 jobs. The biggest losses were recorded in manufacturing, which lost 7,500 jobs; and leisure and hospitality, which lost 1,400 jobs.
The state lost more than 100 manufacturers last year and continues to lose more this year as apparel makers, pulp mills, furniture makers and makers of transportation equipment and commercial machinery cut payrolls or close.
The good news is that Northrop Grumman Ship Systems is adding hundreds of jobs as it expands, and Nissan's new Canton plant will employ as many as 5,300 next year. The weakening of the dollar is also good news for exporters.
"That makes our products more competitive on the world market," said Jay Moon, president of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. "The president's tax cut package hopefully will have a positive impact on the business community. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with the economy."
Nationwide, the highest jobless rate was registered in Yuma, Ariz., where unemployment was 21.8 percent. Yuma also had the largest increase in unemployment over 12 months, with its rate jumping 3.9 percentage points.
The lowest metropolitan jobless rate nationwide was registered by two areas where the dominant employer is a university: Bryan-College-Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M; and Columbia, Mo., where the University of Missouri-Columbia is located have unemployment rates of 1.9.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
