The Mississippi unemployment roles swelled in January to 9.2 percent, a rate higher than the national average of 8.5 percent. In December, the state reported a 7.6 percent rate.

Every county reported an increase in unemployment, with 29 counties in the double digits. In several counties, the rate climbed to nearly 20 percent, including Jefferson County at 19 percent, Holmes at 19.4 percent and Tunica topping the list at 19.5 percent.

Closer to home, Rankin and Madison counties have some of the lowest employment in the state, with 5.8 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively. Rankin County reported the lowest unemployment numbers in the state. The Hinds county statistic is 7.9 percent.

In total, Mississippi is paying unemployment benefits to 120,500 people, with the average weekly benefit coming in at $190.08.

Previous Comments

ID

144363

Comment

...and this is that part of the Stimulus that Barbour doesn't want. These are frightening unemployment numbers!

Author

justjess

Date

2009-03-05T12:01:00-06:00

ID

144364

Comment

Well, Barbour is of the old Republican Guard that believes in an under-paid service class. It's not like he's ever hidden that fact. Read his book, and between the lines in it.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-03-05T12:10:14-06:00

ID

144368

Comment

The legislature is making a valiant attempt to bypass Barbour's decision. The House passed Concurrent Resolution 64, but pundits are saying it's unlikely to get past the majority Republican Senate. Maybe the Senate will surprise us and vote for the people instead of for Republican ideology. We'll see.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-03-05T12:15:54-06:00

ID

144375

Comment

Unless I completely misunderstood Phil Bryant's comments on tv news last night, we are going to refuse the money to help the unemployed so that the state "government" won't look bad in the future if they don't have the money to continue it or have to raise taxes to fund it once the stimulus money is gone. Only an elected official could get up in front of the public and try to sell that kind of logic!

Author

jacksonmissmom

Date

2009-03-05T12:51:19-06:00

ID

144390

Comment

If these guys had to work regular jobs and lost them, they'd know how we feel.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-03-05T16:55:18-06:00

ID

144400

Comment

Here's an interesting twist from the folks at Facing South on the power behind the anti-stimulus movement: Big Oil. What a surprise: Public opposition to the plan was led by a group called Americans for Prosperity, which delivered 400,000 signatures on a petition to the Senate opposing the measure. ... Who is Americans for Prosperity? According to SourceWatch.org, the group was founded in 2003 with money from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, which is run by the billionaires behind Kansas-based Koch Industries -- the national's largest privately held oil and gas company. Media Transparency reports that the group gets substantial financial support from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, another one of the Koch family foundations. It's astounding to me just how greedy these people can be. It doesn't matter who or what suffers: the poor in Mississippi or the planet by raping its resources.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-03-05T19:52:22-06:00