Unemployment within Pearl River County increased by more than a percentage point between the months of April and May of this year.

According to information released by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, Pearl River County’s unemployment rate for the month of May was 8 percent, which is an increase from April’s rate of 6.6 percent.

Pearl River County’s unemployment rate in May of 2013 was 8.8 percent, the report states.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Mississippi for May was 7.7 percent, a slight increase from the previous month’s rate of 7.5 percent. In May of 2013 Mississippi’s adjusted unemployment rate was 8.7 percent.

Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May held to the same rate as the previous month, 6.3 percent.

A year ago in May the nationwide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent.

Seasonally adjusted rates factor in patterns such as weather, holidays, school schedules and other occurrences that regularly affect employment rates. Only nationwide and statewide percentages are adjusted.

Mississippi’s unadjusted rate for May was 8 percent, the report states. The state’s unadjusted rate for April was 6.8 percent.

The unadjusted rate for Mississippi in May 2013 was 8.9 percent.

Nationwide, the unadjusted unemployment rate in May was 6.1 percent, an increase from April’s rate of 5.9 percent. In May of 2013 the unadjusted unemployment rate in the United States was 7.3 percent.

Of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 27 reported rates less than the statewide-unadjusted average of 8 percent for the month of May. Rankin County reported the least amount of unemployment with 4.8 percent. Jones, Lamar and Madison counties all reported unemployment rates of 5.7 percent.

Issaquena County reported a population of the most unemployed with a rate of 16.8 percent while Noxubee County reported the second highest rate of 16.5 percent.