By Steve Swogetinsky

Kemper County’s unemployment rate continued to drop as January 2021’s rate fell to 7.3 percent, down .3 point from the previous month according to numbers from the Mississippi Employment Security Commission.

This was an improvement from last year during the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kemper County’s unemployment rate reached 13.9 percent in April 2020.

Kemper County’s labor force in January stood at 3.390. Of that, 250 people were out of work.

Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted unem

ployment rate for January 2021 was 6.2 percent, decreasing three-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 6.5 percent.

When compared to the January 2020 rate of 5.5 percent, the rate increased seven-tenths of a percentage point. The Nation’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2021 at 6.8 percent increased three tenths of a percentage point over the month but was 2.8 percentage points higher than the year ago rate of 4.0 percent.

 Mississippi’s not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment decreased 18,200 over the month and 36,900 over the year. Industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment losses were Trade, Transportation & Utilities; Professional & Business Services; Leisure & Hospitality; and Construction. For the month of January 2021, 32 counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than the state’s rate of 6.2 percent. Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of January at 3.7 percent followed by Union County at 4.3 percent. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for January at 17.0 percent followed by Wilkinson County at 13.9 percent.