Miss. unemployment lags behind

The number of Americans filing for unemployment has recently dropped by about 10 percent, according to a CNN Money article.

Furthermore, unemployment claims fell by more than 1,000 in 12 states,  but Mississippi isn't one of them.

Robert Huddleston of the WIN Job Center in Hattiesburg says there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of jobless workers filing for unemployment.  In fact, the WIN Center has been opening its doors a half hour early to accommodate these people.  Even though Huddleston has seen some stabilization over the last three or four months, he doesn't believe
much improvement will be made anytime soon.

Nationally, 498,000 jobless claims appeared in the week ending with February 13.  This statistic dropped by 29,000 claims, resulting in 469,000 claims in the week ended February 27, which is the lowest level since January 9 of this year. 

This caused a drop in the moving average, which measures fluctuations and trends in the economy.  The moving average was 474,250 the week ended February 13 and dropped to 470,750 the week ending with February 27.  Continuing claims, also known as insured unemployment, also decreased at about the same rate, the article said.

Amy Yeend, assistant director of USM Career Services, shares similar opinions with Huddleston and urges students to be realistic and patient given the current state of the economy.
"There hasn't been that much of a change [in job availability] yet – this [drop] is only a small step," said Yeend.  "Students need to be aware that they might not get their ideal job right after college because of the current job situation.  They may have to accept something that's a little different, but they have to look at that job and think about the opportunity.  The experience and background will get them to what they want to do."

Economic analyst Tim Quinlan said in the CNN article, "We're moving in the right direction, but we're still not really at the level where I would hope we would be. I think we should start to see some gradual improvement and begin working our way back down to 400,000 in the next couple of months."