Cassandra Clark answers questions during a job interview with Cooper Lighting Employee Relations Administrator Carolyn Bailey Tuesday at the Mississippi Employment Security Admission Job Center.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[7/30/03]Warren County’s jobless rate rose again during June, following a state and national pattern.

According to statistics from the Mississippi Employment Security Commission, 7.6 percent of eligible workers were seeking but not finding jobs in June, compared to a rate of 6.5 percent in May.

The state rate rose from 6.5 percent in May to 7.7 percent in June. The national rate was 6.5 percent in June, up from 5.8 percent in May.

Students seeking summer and first-time jobs often bump rates up. “In June all of the students and college graduates who rushed to get summer jobs were in the labor force, and there was just not enough jobs for all of them,” said Curt Thompson, executive director of the MESC. He also said the rise in the state rate could be attributed to the loss of 1,100 manufacturing jobs across Mississippi.

Eunice Harper, manager of the Vicksburg office of the MESC, said at a June staff meeting she was told there had been a larger-than-normal number of claims filed for unemployment insurance because of layoffs at manufacturing plants in Warren County and neighboring areas. She agreed that students entering the job market also increased the local unemployment rate.

Cassandra Clark, 28, and mother of three, said she was laid off from her job as a press operator at Anderson-Tully Co. a month ago.

“I have been up here looking for a job every week,” Clark said at the MESC office.

She said although the unemployment check is good to have, “it is just enough to pay my bills.”

Clark is starting her third semester at Hinds Community College majoring in business and accounting in the fall. “Right now, with school coming up for me and my kids, I will take any job I can get,” she said.

For people like Clark who are looking for a job or others seeking different jobs, the Vicksburg Job Fair on Tuesday may help. The fair will feature up to 70 employers setting up booths at the Vicksburg Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will give job applicants an opportunity to talk about jobs, leave resumes, hear job offers and participate in pre-employment interviews.

Jobless rates also jumped in counties adjacent to Warren with Claiborne posting the highest. In that county the jobless rate rose from 15.7 percent in May to 16.8 percent in June.

Sharkey County posted a June rate of 13.6 percent compared to 11.2 percent in May, while neighboring Issaquena County went from 10.6 percent in May to 13.3 percent in June.