According to a Mississippi Department of Employment Security report, Mississippi lost 8,300 net payroll jobs and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent in August.

Over the past 12 months, Mississippi added 11,800 payroll jobs and the unemployment rate fell by 1.7 percentage points from 5.3 percent. In August, Mississippi’s private sector lost 4,000 net private payroll jobs and over the past twelve months it added 15,600 private payroll jobs in the establishment survey.

For the month of August 2022, thirty-four counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 3.6 percent.

Panola County’s reported rate was 4.5 percent, compared to 2.9 in Lafayette, 3.6 in Tate, and 5.8 in Quitman.

Rankin and Union counties posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of August at 2.7 percent followed by Lamar County at 2.8 percent. Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate for August at 14.3 percent followed by Claiborne County at 9.0 percent.