Leflore County’s jobless rate improved considerably in May, as hundreds of workers who had been sidelined the month before by COVID-19 shutdowns returned to work.
The county’s jobless rate last month was 10.7%, according to figures released Tuesday by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. That compares to April’s revised rate of 17.1%.
The number of unemployed fell by 610 during the month.
Still, the jobless rate was considerably higher than May 2019, when it stood at 7%.
Statewide, the same pattern held.
The jobless rate in May was 10.5%, down from April’s revised rate of 15.7% but almost double May 2019’s rate of 5.3%.
During the month, the number of unemployed in Mississippi fell by 60,000.
The result was much better than state economist Darrin Webb had predicted just last month when he told a Senate committee that he expected the jobless rate to hit 20% before it started to come back down.
The national jobless rate last month was 13.0%.
Forty-four of Mississippi’s 82 counties had unemployment rates below 10% in May, 36 more than the month before.
Smith County again had the state’s lowest rate at 5.4%, while Tunica County again had the highest at 23.5%.
Leflore County tied with Yalobusha County for the 55th best unemployment rate, eight spots better than the month before.
The May rates and rankings for other nearby counties were:
• Tallahatchie, 7.0%, third.
• Grenada, 8%, 16th (tie).
• Carroll, 8.4%, 21st (tie).
• Montgomery, 8.9%, 30th.
• Sunflower, 9.6%, 40th.
• Humphreys, 13.5%, 71st.
• Holmes, 21.3%, 81st.
