Montgomery County’s unemployment rate increased three-tenths of a percentage point to 5 percent in November.
The county’s jobless rate went up from 4.7 percent in October but is four-tenths of a percentage point lower than in November 2016. November’s rate was the highest for the county since the 5.9 percent posted in July. The average unemployment rate in 2016 was 6.4 percent.
Mississippi Department of Employment Security statistics from 1990 forward show the county’s highest unemployment rate for November came in 2010, when it reached 12.5 percent. November’s rate tied two other years as the lowest for that period; it was also 5 percent that month 1997 and 1998.
The number of unemployed Montgomery Countians in November was 210 and the labor force, which is made up of everyone who has a job or is looking for one, was 4,130.
The state’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in November while the national average was 3.9 percent, also unadjusted. Lamar County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month at 3.2 percent while Jefferson had the highest at 10.9 percent.
November jobless rates in adjoining counties:
• Grenada, 4 percent.
• Choctaw, 4.6 percent.
• Webster, 4.8 percent.
• Attala, 6.1 percent.
• Carroll, 6.2 percent.
