From Press, Staff Reports

Webster County's unemployment rate dropped slightly in January, according to figures released by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

Last month's rate of 8.7 percent was down from 8.9 percent in December and 9.3 percent in January 2007. The county's average unemployment rate in 2007 was 8.7 percent.

Unemployment rates in bordering counties were 7 percent in Oktibbeha, 7.5 in Grenada, 8.2 in Choctaw, 8.4 in Calhoun, 8.8 in Montgomery, 9.4 in Chickasaw and 12.5 in Clay.

Because to winter cutbacks, the state's unemployment rate, for the second month in a row remained at 6.4 percent, the MDES announced last week.

"This is not abnormal for January as Mississippi's labor force showed relatively normal levels of employment and unemployment, as compared to the variable shifting of seasonal trends," said Wayne Gasson, bureau director, Labor Market Information for MDES.

With "not seasonally adjusted" Nonfarm Wage and Salary Employment estimates, revised for 2007, a net loss of about 14,200 jobs over the month is comparable to the trend noted last year from December to January.

Counties with heavy concentrations of agricultural or retail trade jobs are feeling the impact worse than the others as employers trim payrolls, construction activity declines, and inclement weather conditions persist. On the positive side, those same numbers were up about 8,700 from the previous January.

Most local area rates of unemployment were relatively close to previously published numbers for December, but that could change once the revised data for 2007 are completed and released.

Rankin County once again posted the lowest jobless rate for the month at 4.1 percent, with DeSoto and Lamar next at 4.4 percent. Thirteen counties logged unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher, led by Jefferson at 12.7 percent.

Historically, rates for February are near those posted in January, so little change is expected when the next month's rates are published.