Jobless rate up for Sept.

By Rita Howell
Panola County is ranked 60th among the 82 counties in Mississippi based on the September unemployment report released last week by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
The county with the best rate is Rankin, with only 4.1 percent unemployment, compared with Panola’s rate of 7.1 for September. The county with the worst jobless rate is Jefferson, with 12.4 percent unemployed.
The September report showed a reversal on a three-month trend which has shown steady improvement in Panola over the summer. The county’s rate in August was 6.7 percent.
The state’s rate for September was 5.8, and the U.S. rate was 4.8.
Compared with the six surrounding counties, Panola’s rate was higher than Tunica (6.2), Tate (5.9), Lafayette (4.9), Yalobusha (5.5) and Tallahatchie (5.4), and lower than Quitman (7.8).
Panola’s unemployment rate in September, 2015 was 8 percent, and five years ago, in 2011, Panola posted a jobless rate of 13.2 percent.