Mississippi’s unemployment rate fell for the month of October to 4.9 percent, which tied May 2017 for the lowest level of unemployment ever recorded in Mississippi.
In total, the number of unemployed Mississippians fell by 3,500 in October to 62,500, according to the latest data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. This represents the lowest number of Mississippians without jobs since October 1979.
Year-over-year, the number of unemployed Mississippians decreased by 10,100.
Mississippi's 4.9 percent unemployment in October is also an improvement from September’s 5.2 percent unemployment.
October’s unemployment rate is also three-tenths of a percentage point lower than September and eight-tenths of a percentage point lower than October 2016, when the rate was 5.7 percent.
The MDES reports the number of non-farm jobs in Mississippi rose by 2,100 in October to 1,153,600. This represents the most jobs in Mississippi since May 2008.
The state’s labor force, which consists of everyone who has a job or is actively looking for a job, decreased in October by 5,900 to 1,272,000. Year-over-year for October the labor force fell by 10,600.
Additionally, the number of people working in Mississippi decreased in October by 2,100 to 1,209,500.