Unemployment rates for Lincoln County continue to drop but as the summer heats up, history suggests they could be on the rise again.

According to data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, the county’s unemployment rate continues its downward trend at 5.2 percent for the month of April. The rate was 5.6 percent in March.

However, between May and June of 2014 the rates rose .9 points; 2013 saw a .8 increase in June; June 2012 unemployment rates were 1.2 points higher than May of that year.

Brookhaven/Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garrick Combs said a summer uptick in jobless rates might have to do the release of students and teachers from their usual duties.

“There are more people that are working and more people that are available to work,” Combs said.

He said students from high schools and colleges are coming back home for the summer “and you see some reaction to that in the rates.”

Combs also mentioned that professors and teachers who are off for the summer often seek work, which could lead to the increase in rates during the summer months.

The MDES defines unemployed people as those 16 years old and over who have made specific efforts to find employment during the four-week period in reference. The unemployment rate is the number employed as a percent of the entire labor force.

Combs said because once someone has stopped actively seeking work, for whatever reason, they are not included in the rate, making it difficult to rely on unemployment rates as an accurate indicator of the county’s labor economy.