Unemployment Rates Go Up

The nation’s newest unemployment numbers are out and they’re troubling. We haven’t seen the numbers this high in almost thirty years.  Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9 and a half percent. The government said there are signs job cuts are easing up. One indicator is the number of newly laid-off workers filing for unemployment benefits. That number dropped last week. According to the Labor Department, initial unemployment benefit claims dropped by 16,000 t 614,000.

The unemployment rate Rankin County is six percent. It’s the lowest in the state. Some people believe growth is the reason for the county’s success. “The area has been growing at about 30 percent every three years. I think everybody is awakening to the fact that the population in Rankin County is over 140 thousand people and there may be areas that are under served,“ said Tom Troxler. Troxler is the executive director for the Rankin First Economic Development Authority. He said a few small business have closed since the recession started, but even in this tough economy more retail, industrial, and medical developments are in the planning stages throughout Rankin County and the clusters of new businesses are expected to continue.  “I think you’ll see distribution as the country draws that cirlce around where the middle of the area that serves the largest amount of the population in the United States. It’s going to moving toward the Rankin County greater, Jackson area.“