Kemper’s March unemployment rate drops 1.3 percentage points

The unemployment rate in Kemper County dropped 1.3 percentage points during the month of March when compared to the previous month, ac­cording to figures from the Mississippi Depart­ment of Employment Se­curity.

The unemployment rate in March stood at 4.9 per­cent. That’s a drop of 3.1 percentage points when compared to March 2021.

Dropping unemploy­ment rates seemed to be the trend in East Missis­sippi.

The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the civilian labor force for the county.

The Kemper County labor force was 3,280 peo­ple in March. Of that, 160 people were unemployed in March.

Mississippi’s unadjusted unemployment rate for March 2022 was 3.5 per­cent, decreasing nine-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 4.4 per­cent. When compared to the March 2021 rate of 6.4 percent, the rate de­creased 2.9 percentage points. The estimated number of unemployed decreased 11,900 over the month, while the em­ployed total increased 10,800 from the prior month.

The nation’s unadjusted unemployment rate for March 2022 at 3.8 per­cent, decreased three-tenths of a percentage point over the month and was 2.4 percentage points below the year ago rate of 6.2 percent.

Mississippi’s nonfarm employment decreased 3,100 over the month but was 28,500 higher than one year ago. Trade, transportation and utilities were the industry sector with the largest monthly employment loss.

For the month of March 2022, 33 counties in Mis­sissippi posted unemploy­ment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 3.5 percent. Rankin and Union counties posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of March at 2.5 percent fol­lowed by Lafayette County at 2.6 percent. Jef­ferson County had the highest unemployment rate for March at 11.2 per­cent followed by Humphreys County at 8.3 percent.