Fueled by seasonal factors that affected much of the state, manyarea counties posted January jobless rate increases of two pointsor more, according to the latest statistics from the MississippiDepartment of Employment Security.

Lincoln County’s jobless rate climbed 2.9 percentage points to 8percent for the first month of 2005. With other counties postingsimilar increases, the county held on to the second-lowest rate inthe area.

David Holland, manager of the Brookhaven WIN Job Center, said heknew of no major layoffs or other specific reasons for the localjump. He echoed state employment officials who cited post-holidayemployee reductions and weather conditions in a 1.4-point stateincrease to 7.7 percent.

“When you see that trend statewide, you know it’s not justlocal,” Holland said.

Cliff Brumfield, Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerceexecutive vice president, agreed.

“January is a down time for many businesses and industries,” hesaid.

Holland pointed out that Lincoln County’s rate was above thestate average for the first time in several months. However, heindicated that was not a cause for concern.

“We’re close to that average and are doing pretty good in therankings,” said Holland, referring to Lincoln County’s placement at33 in county-by-county rankings. “That’s a sign we’re still inpretty good shape.”

Also on the good news front, Holland said the Brookhaven WIN JobCenter had recorded 1,649 entered employments since the start ofthe current fiscal year July 1, 2004. That includes 833 employeeswho have been placed in jobs by WIN and 816 who have been assistedby WIN in some fashion in finding work.

“That’s the most in our entire work-force investment area,”Holland said.

The Brookhaven area includes 17 counties in southern and centralMississippi. Holland said the Brookhaven center’s total surpassedthose of larger cities in the area and trailed only Tupelo andHattiesburg statewide.

“There’s some good things going on,” Holland said.

In other unemployment results, Amite County maintained thelowest area rate at 7.5 percent. That, however, was up 3.3percentage points from December and was the biggest increase in thearea.

Pike County also posted an increase of over three points. Itsrate was up 3.1 to 9.2 percent for January.

Lawrence and Walthall counties each had rate hikes of more thantwo points. Lawrence’s rate was up 2.4 to 8.2 percent andWalthall’s rose 2.7 to 8.5 percent.

To the west, Franklin County’s rate rose 1.3 to 9.4 percent.Jefferson County had an increase of 1.9 points to 15.5 percent,which was the highest in the area and fourth-highest in thestate.

Copiah County was the only one to have an increase of less thanone point, rising 0.9 points to 8.4 percent.

Employment officials anticipated better jobless rate totals inFebruary because of weather conditions that should allowconstruction and other outdoor activities to pick up.