June payroll data sets new record in Mississippi

Published 6:44 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Preliminary data show Mississippi’s employers set another new record for payrolls in June.

Payrolls — which are economists’ top labor market indicators — rose slightly to 1.17 million people in Mississippi last month. That’s 14,000 more than in June 2018.

The state’s unemployment rate held steady at 5% from May to June. That’s above June 2018’s 4.7% rate.

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The number of people who reported having a job rose, as did the number of job seekers.

The number of unemployed people rose above 63,000, up slightly from May.

Mississippi posted the second highest unemployment rate among states behind Alaska at 6.4%.

June U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7% from multi-decade low of 3.6% in May.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security released figures Tuesday, adjusted to cancel out seasonal changes.