Joblessness in Warren County was at 6.3 percent in January, up from 5.3 percent in November and reflecting a loss in holiday jobs and agriculture, a news release from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security said. The state rate was 6.4 percent.

Counties with heavy agriculture or retail trade jobs are more affected by the winter lull, the release noted.

Benny Terrell, branch director of Vicksburg’s WIN Job Center, said a slow construction climate contributed to the shift.

“We have a tremendous number of industries impacted by the building trade,” he said. “You’re also looking at people that were working during the holidays that were laid off because the holidays are over.”

Graduated layoffs at Simpson Dura-Vent, the ventilation systems manufacturer at Ceres Industrial Complex that announced closure in January, will be seen in Warren County figures over the next two years. The plant, which employed 170 full time in Warren County with seasonal expansions taking its workforce to more than 300, cited collapsed housing markets nationwide as a main reason for a consolidation to California locations.

Employees, local officials and state employment officers learned of the closure in January. Terrell said an MSDES task force visited the plant in early February and talked to employees. “We answered questions about the services our agency provides,” said Terrell, who visited the plant Feb. 12.

The company has offered employees jobs at other facilities and elsewhere and has promised bonuses for employees who stay with the company through the timetable it has set for layoffs.

Terrell said he has been in contact with other local manufacturers in the hopes of finding a place for Simpson employees who choose to remain in Warren County.

“The only bad thing is that right now, almost everybody is being impacted by the building trade,” he said.

Hinds County’s unemployment rate was 5.6 in January. Yazoo County’s rate was 7.9 percent.

Issaquena and Claiborne counties ranked 74th and 75th among Mississippi’s 82 counties with jobless rates of 10.8 percent and 11.2 percent respectively.

Statewide, Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate at 4.1 percent. Unemployment rates in Holmes, Sunflower, Sharkey, Tunica, Clay and Jefferson counties all topped 12 percent.