State’s jobless rate climbs as economy slumps

The Clarion-Ledger, 3/5/9

The state’s unemployment rate jumped to 9.2 percent in January, rising from 7.6 percent in December as laid-off holiday workers returned to the state’s jobless list.

The national unemployment rate was 8.5 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release state-by-state data next week that will reflect how Mississippi stacks up among other states.

At 6.9 percent, Mississippi had the sixth highest unemployment rate in the nation for 2008, the BLS reported.

News of the rising unemployment rate came as thousands of unemployed Mississippians began receiving an extra $25 a week in unemployment, part of the economic stimulus package President Barack Obama recently signed into law.