Mississippi’s unemployment rate dropped 2.5 percentage points, to 5.0, for the month of November, the lowest rate the state’s seen since October 2018, according to Mississippi Department of Employment Security numbers. That’s compared to a year ago in November 2020, when the rate was 6.7 percent.

The time between October 2021 and November 2021 saw the state count 900 fewer jobs, with the largest monthly employment losses in the profession, business, leisure and hospitality sectors. The industry sectors registering the largest monthly employment gains include trade, transportation, utilities, government and manufacturing.

There are two types of data counted; one is “not seasonally adjusted unemployment,” which is non regularly patterned, and “seasonally adjusted data,” which removes the effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year, such as the influences of weather, holidays, opening and closing of schools and other recurring seasonal events. Adjusting each makes it easier to observe the cyclical and other non-seasonal movements in a data series, says a MDES report.

The nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 percent, which is a four-tenths of a percentage point over the month. A year ago the November rate was 6.7.

The not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state in November 2021 was 3.0 percent, decreasing nine-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 3.9 percent. Compared to the November 2020 rate of 6.3, the rate decreased 3.3 percentage points.

The number of unemployed decreased 11,600 during the month and the employed increased 6,100 when compared to last month.

In November 2021, 34 Mississippi counties posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s 3.0 percent rate. In October, 27 counties posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 3.9 percent.

The Mississippian “civilian labor force” – everyone 16 and up who has a job or is looking for a job – numbered 1,251,800, with 1,214,400 employed and 37,400 unemployed, for an unemployment rate of 3.0.

Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate at 2.0 percent followed by Lafayette County and Union County at 2.1 percent. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate at 10.2 percent followed by Humphreys County at 7.0 percent.

In Lincoln County, the unemployment rate for November was 2.7. Out of 14,860 available workers 16 and up, 14,460 were employed, while 400 were unemployed. In October, 14,340 were employed, while 520 were unemployed, spelling out a 3.5 percent unemployment rate. For Franklin County, out of 2,670 workers, 2,570 were employed in November and 100 were not, for a 3.9 percent unemployment rate.

A preliminary count of the unemployment rate percentages of counties bordering Lincoln County is as follows:

• Copiah, 4.5 percent (October) to 3.4 percent (November)

• Lawrence, 5.0 (October) to 3.8 percent (November)

• Franklin, 5.0 percent (October) to 3.9 percent (November)

• Walthall, 5.0 (October) to 3.8 percent (November)

• Pike, 5.2 (October) to 4.0 percent (November)

• Amite, 5.4 (October) to 4.4 percent (November)

• Jefferson, 12.4 (October) to 10.2 percent (November)

Initial Lincoln County filings of unemployment claims in November numbered 31, as opposed to 36 in October and 110 in November 2020.

In Lawrence County, 14 claims were made in November 2021, 19 in October 2021 and 60 this time last year. In Franklin County, four unemployment claims were filled in November as compared to 8 in October and 28 in November 2020.

In the entire state of Mississippi, there were 5,200 initial unemployment claims in November 2021, 5,469 in October and 14,757 this time last year.

In November 2021, more than $3.5 million was paid in benefits, compared to about $4.3 million in October and more than $18 million in November 2020.

The labor force includes people age 16 and older who are able to work and are either employed or looking for work. This number does not include full-time students, members of the Armed Forces or those with farm jobs, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

Monthly estimates of the labor force, employment, unemployment and the unemployment rate are generated by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program, a cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics and State Employment Security agencies.

The numbers are at first preliminary, and then revised to represent all data present into a final report.