The number of unemployed persons in Lincoln County dropped for June and the labor force has risen.

Lincoln County had a work force of 13,810 in June and 1,170 unemployed (a rate of 8.5%). That’s down from May’s 9.1% (1,270 people unemployed) and April’s historic high of 13% (1,770 unemployed of 13,360 who said they were looking for work).

The 12-month moving average for Lincoln County was 14,360 available to work, 13,400 employed and 960 unemployed (6.7%). In June the previous five years, Lincoln County has had an unemployed rate as high as 6.9% (2015 and 2016) and as low as 5.7% (2018).

In June, 586 Lincoln Countians filed initial unemployment claims, adding to the 5,098 with continued claims, totaling 5,684 claims for the month. May’s total claims were 8,271. June 2019 saw only 419 claims. More than $7 million was paid in all benefits for June, up from May’s $6.6 million and from June 2019’s $55,605.

The five counties with the lowest rates of unemployment were Smith at 6.1%, Rankin 6.3%, Scott 6.9%, Alcorn 7% and Choctaw at 7.1%.

The county with the lowest rate of unemployment, Smith County in central Mississippi, had a labor force of 6,490, of which 400 persons were unemployed.

Thirty-eight counties were below the state average of 9.7%. The state’s number of unemployed persons has dropped from 10.4% in May and 15.7% in April. June 2019 had an unemployment rate of 6.4%. The average for the previous nine months was 5.3%.

The five highest unemployment rates were Jefferson at 20.3%, Holmes at 20.2%, Claiborne at 18.6%, Tunica 17.5% and Humphreys at 15.9%.

Jefferson County, with the highest percentage of employed persons in June, saw 360 people out of work from a labor pool of 1,970.

Surrounding Lincoln County, Franklin was 8.7%, Copiah and Amite were 9.4%, Lawrence 9.6%, Walthall was 9.9%, Pike 10.4 and Jefferson 20.3%.

Issaquena had the state’s lowest population of people available to work, at 370. Thirty of those were unemployed for June, resulting in an unemployment rate of 7.2%. Hinds County had the state’s highest work force at 103,500. The 12,130 unemployed persons there — the highest in any Mississippi county — constituted 11.7% of the work force.

The civilian labor force in Mississippi was 1.2 million for June, down by 800, with a 12-month moving average of 1.25 million. Mississippi had 117,800 unemployed in June, down from 125,900 in May.

In the U.S., the civilian labor force was 160.88 million, up from 157.97 million in May, but down 3.3 million from one year ago. The 12-month moving average was 162.56 million.

In Mississippi, more than 70,170 people filed initial unemployment insurance claims in June, down by nearly 33,000 from May, and far above June 2019’s 6,130 initial claims. There were 657,190 continued claims in June, down from May’s 947,444 and up from 2019’s 47,676. More than $123.8 million in unemployment benefits were paid for June, more than 20 times that paid with June 2019’s $6 million, but down from May’s $145.55 million.

Monthly estimates of the labor force, employment, unemployment and unemployment rate are generated by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program, a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Labor Statistics and State Employment Security agencies.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines an individual employed if they did any work at all for pay or profit during the survey week; this includes all part-time and temporary work as well as full time year round employment. Unemployed individuals are those who do not have a job, have actively looked for work during the past four weeks and are currently available for work. The sum of employed and unemployed produces the Civilian Labor Force.