Joblessness good and bad

The Mississippi Employment Security Commission (MESC) said nearly 10,000 more Mississippians were employed this past December over the same month in 1997. However, the overall unemployment rate in Mississippi in December was 4.3%, up from November’s 4.2%.

The national December average was 4%.

MESC said the strong performance of retail jobs during the holiday season was offset by the seasonal layoffs in agriculture and construction.

Lafayette County led the state with a 1.1% unemployment rate, followed by Oktibbeha and Rankin (1.7%). Sharkey County had the highest rate at 16.1%.