JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's unemployment rate dipped to 10.4 percent in December, as more people withdrew from the labor force.
The jobless rate is down from 10.5 percent in November, but above the 10.2 percent rate in December 2010. Mississippi had the fourth-highest jobless rate among the states in December.
The number of unemployed people fell from 142,500 in November to 140,000 in December, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The labor force fell by about 3,000, accounting for the dip in unemployed people.
Unemployment rose in 55 counties. It was flat in 10 counties and fell in 17. Those numbers aren't adjusted to smooth out normal seasonal fluctuations. Rankin County continued to have the state's lowest jobless rate, at 6.2 percent, while Clay County kept the state's worst unemployment rate, at 19.1 percent.
Khrystal Guice, a 24-year-old Jackson resident, said last week that she is among those having trouble finding a job. Guice said she quit work last year to have a baby and now she's looking for "really anything — fast food, whatever." Guice said most places where she had applied weren't hiring or had long lists of applicants.
The broadest measure of unemployment, which includes people who are only looking for work sporadically, have given up looking or are working part time because they can't find a full-time job. The figure averaged 16.5 percent in Mississippi over the 12 months ended Sept. 30. Nationwide, that broad measure averaged 16.2 percent during the same time.
The nationwide unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December from 8.7 percent in November, as more than 100,000 people said they found new jobs, even as people continued to leave the labor force. Nevada, California and Rhode Island took the top three spots for unemployment, with Mississippi coming in fourth. North Dakota again recorded the nation's lowest jobless rate.
Mississippi's labor force had been increasing steadily over the last two years, which has been a major factor in driving up the unemployment rate. The number of people working or looking for a job has now fallen two months in a row.
Overall, December's picture was not that much different from earlier months in 2011. The state's jobless rate averaged 10.4 percent for the whole year, rising from 10.1 percent in January to 10.6 percent in September and October, before declining in November and December.
Darrin Webb, the state economist, said Mississippi and the rest of the nation are suffering from slow growth because of the fallout from the housing bust and excessive debt.
"The state has really struggled," he said.
Webb points to the second employment survey that officials take each month, asking employers how many people are on their payrolls.
That survey found Mississippi job totals fell by 3,600 from November to December, when seasonally adjusted, and were 2,700 above year-ago levels. Many economists use the payroll number as their primary indicator of job-market health.
The decrease means Mississippi is farther from reaching its pre-recession peak in payroll employment. The state is still 60,000 jobs, or 5 percent short of where it was before the recession began.
Payroll totals shrank most sharply in the professional and business services sector, which is a smaller sector of the economy in Mississippi than in most states. The second-largest job loss was in the government sector, while payroll totals also fell in the education and health services sector and the trade, transportation and utilities sector. Manufacturing grew at a healthy clip.
Webb said he expects payroll totals to grow about 0.8 percent in 2012, slightly faster than in 2011.
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