Jackson Free Press

The rate of unemployment in the Magnolia State either dropped slightly or rose slightly, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, depending on how you count the numbers. Adjusting for the season, May's rate was 9.7 percent, and the June rate dropped just a bit, to 9 percent. In real numbers, however, 1,500 more people were jobless in June than May, meaning the unadjusted rate climbed to 9.8 statewide.

Jefferson County reports a jobless rate more than double the state's average, hitting 20 percent, with Holmes County not far behind at 19.4 percent. In all, 54 of Mississippi's 82 counties reported double-digit unemployment, with another six counties at or above the state's unadjusted average.

Locally, tri-county area residents are faring a bit better than average. Rankin County reported the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 6.2 percent; Madison the fifth lowest at 7.4 percent; and Hinds was No. 12 at 8.6 percent. Mississippi's average unemployment is on par with the national average of 9.7 percent unemployment.

Still, the numbers reported through labor departments do not count the many who have exhausted their benefits, or who have stopped looking for work. Nationally, the rate could be as much as 100 percent higher than the "official" rate.

Previous Comments

ID

150017

Comment

expect it to rise even more with the minimum wage increase that goes into effect today

Author

GradyGriffin

Date

2009-07-24T09:40:17-06:00

ID

150020

Comment

Most businessmen won't give out a raise unless congress mandates it. When that happens, they gripe and complain and fire someone.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-07-24T10:31:47-06:00

ID

150023

Comment

Any business that fails because of an increase in the minimum wage is a business that has met it's inevitable fate. The minimum wage, as established by law, merely means that paying a worker any less would be a criminal act akin to forced servitude. In my humble opinion, any business that must survive by paying worker a minimum wage, is a business that exists to enrich it's owners by extracting the surplus of the worker without fairly compensating the worker for his or her contribution to the overall success of the business. I will gladly reconsider that opinion for any business that employs workers at a minimum wage and likewise compensates the owner at a the same minimum wage level. In reality, businesses pay minimum wage to the worker making the sandwich or widget while the owner lives in a McMansion and commutes in a luxury car while the minimum wage worker lives in a car and walks to work because they can't afford gas. Let my end this rant with a chorus from the song "We Can't Make It Here" by the folk/rock musician James McMurty. From the web site of musician James McMurty http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/we_cant_make_it_herelyrics.htm "We Can't Make it Here" Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today No I hate the men sent the jobs away I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams All lily white and squeaky clean They've never known want, they'll never know need Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war And we can't make it here anymore

Author

Jeffery R

Date

2009-07-24T11:53:50-06:00

ID

150032

Comment

Jeff states, "I will gladly reconsider that opinion for any business that employs workers at a minimum wage and likewise compensates the owner at a the same minimum wage level." The average restaurant in MS does $600,000 a year in annual sales on a 4.4% profit margin. That's $26,400 in profit---not exactly "McMansion...luxury car" funds. Now take into consideration the 12 month recession, where typical same store sales are down 10-30% year over year. That 4% figure is now a negative number, and the owner is going into his/her pocket for expenses. Whoever thinks restaurants, which are the largest private employer in the state of MS, are simply printing money in the back of the kitchen is sadly misinformed. To their credit, most positions are already above the federal minimum wage, but the repercussions are larger in scale: additional hiring is frozen, capitol improvements/expansion projects are delayed, and the whole idea of employee rewards/bonuses are pushed aside. And lastly, restaurant owners are the most giving of any private business owner out there, to their employees and their community (see Chick Ball's food offerings this weekend---all donated).

Author

GradyGriffin

Date

2009-07-24T13:34:49-06:00

ID

150059

Comment

Would someone care to quote the statistics for the number of restaurants that fail within the 1st 5 years of opening? It's a tough business to be in, for sure. I would expect that all the altruism mentioned for the Chick ball will find it's appropriate line on the quarterly tax return as either an advertising expense or charitable contribution. A lot of restaurants I have been in in the metro area would do well to have some of those generously compensated employees trained in the fine art of using a mop and a wet rag to clean something once in a while. I do not know about your establishment Mr/Mrs EatOutOften, but for many it holds true. Best of luck riding out the collapse.

Author

Jeffery R

Date

2009-07-24T15:46:59-06:00

ID

150065

Comment

60 hours a week X 50 weeks a year = 3000 hours $26,400.00 a year / 3000 hours = $8.80/hour That's pretty close to minimum wage. ;-)

Author

WMartin

Date

2009-07-24T16:22:44-06:00

ID

150068

Comment

Where the heck are these people getting 60 hours? That's hallucinatory. Try 30 hours a week, max.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-07-24T16:29:46-06:00

ID

150070

Comment

Running a restaurant only requires 30 hours a week? I am in the wrong business. I work more than that in three days. I thought I was probably being conservative with that estimate.

Author

WMartin

Date

2009-07-24T16:40:09-06:00

ID

150074

Comment

WM: Not management, certainly. The other people usually end up getting hours cut as the minimum wage goes up.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-07-24T21:27:37-06:00

ID

150083

Comment

From Rueters; [quote] The federal minimum wage on Friday rose to $7.25 from $6.55. But only seven states guarantee tipped workers the minimum wage, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a New York-based advocacy group for low-income workers. The minimum wage for so-called "tipped" workers has been frozen at $2.13 an hour since 1991, the report found. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56N48E20090724 [/quote] This should make some folks happy. FYI, I am not anti-restaurant, in fact, I spend a lot of time dining out. Lately, I am more often asked if I am "dining in" rather than "Would I care to make a selection from the wine list". Peace y'all.

Author

Jeffery R

Date

2009-07-25T16:00:08-06:00

ID

150091

Comment

The average restaurant in MS does $600,000 a year in annual sales on a 4.4% profit margin. That's $26,400 in profit---not exactly "McMansion...luxury car" funds. Owner's pay doesn't come out of net profit. Their pay is an expense just like the rest of the payroll and other expenses (including donations to charity). Like any business, profit is what's left over *after* paying the bills and payroll. Also, averages don't really tell the whole story. I'm sure there are many, many more catfish and chicken joints in Mississippi than there are Char's and Bravo's. No one is ever going to get rich off of a single hole in the wall. Without more details, the average is pretty meaningless. The $2.13 hourly wage for tipped workers is absurd. The following graphs in the story linked above says: Waitresses and waiters, who comprise the majority of tip-receiving workers, have nearly three times the poverty rate of the nation's workforce, it said. Wait staff are twice as likely to go without health insurance, partly because few employers help them pay for a health plan. So, in other words, a waitperson costs a restaurant less than $4,500 a year in full-time 40-hour-a-week wages. It's a bizarre pay system that only benefits owners. In what other business are workers *directly* dependent on the customer's good will for the bulk of their earnings?

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-07-26T15:02:25-06:00

ID

150096

Comment

Owner's pay doesn't come out of net profit. This is incorrect. I think you mean the Manager's pay. If the Restaurant is a corporation the owners are the shareholders and they are paid from profits, but in a partnership, L.L.C. or as a sole proprietor the Owner is not an employee and is not on the payroll. I am certainly no expert on restaurants or how they are usually set up as businesses, but I have set up and paid taxes on a few partnerships and L.L.C.'s that weren't restaurants and my pay came as a draw from profits. The IRS counts the profits as income to the owner(s) and taxes them accordingly, of course this is the simplest view and there are lots of twists and turns in the tax code. I have never really understood the whole tipping minimum wage thing at all, it is bizarre to guarantee workers a certain baseline wage and set another for one particular industry. That double standard was clearly lost on Mr. Pink.

Author

WMartin

Date

2009-07-27T08:45:21-06:00

ID

150097

Comment

WMartin, so if the owner is also the manager and takes a regular salary (probably pretty common in small operations), isn't that salary an expense? I'm not a corporate legal expert, but I have been an owner taking a salary in an S-corp., and that salary was an expense. That was a while ago, though, so there are surely changes I'm not aware of.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-07-27T09:00:49-06:00

ID

150100

Comment

Maybe that's a twist in an s-corp that I am not aware of Ronni, I really couldn't say for sure. It's been a while, thankfully, since I have had to set up a new one. :-)

Author

WMartin

Date

2009-07-27T09:11:45-06:00