County unemployment numbers return to pre-pandemic rate

What a difference a year can make.

Unemployment rates jumped throughout the nation from April a year ago. The COVID-19 Pandemic forced businesses and industries to close and send their employees home to avoid infection. 

Customers were staying away, too. The April 2020 unemployment rate in Neshoba County jumped to 16.4%, one point above the state average of 15.4% and two points above the national unemployment average of 14.4%.

Neshoba County’s unemployment rate has returned to pre-pandemic numbers with the rate falling 10.5 percentage points when compared to last year. The rate stood at 5.9% in April 2021, one-tenth above the 6.0% in March 2021, according to numbers from the Mississippi Employment Security Commission.

Neshoba County’s labor force in April stood at 10,200 people. Of that, 610 people were out of work.

Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2021 was 5.8%, decreasing four-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 6.2%. When compared to the April 2020 rate of 15.4%, the rate decreased 9.6 percentage points.

The number of unemployed decreased 3,900 over the month, while the employed total increased 12,800 from the prior month. The Nation’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2021 at 5.7 percent was down five-tenths of a percentage point from 6.2% in March 2021 and 8.7 percentage points from 14.4% in April 2020.

Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment increased 2,400 over the month and 107,400 over the year.

Industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment gains were leisure and hospitality, and educational and health services.

For the month of April 2021, 32 counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 5.8%. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of April at 3.7% followed by Lamar County at 4.2%. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for April at 16.0% followed by Humphreys County at 12.7%.