Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Employers added workers to Mississippi payrolls in July, reversing three months of losses, but the jobless rate rose slightly.

Mississippi's unemployment rate rose to 6 percent from 5.9 percent in June. That's below July 2015's 6.3 percent rate. The workforce and number of people reporting jobs fell, and the number of unemployed people was flat at 76,000.

Mississippi had June's sixth-highest jobless rate among states, with Alaska worst at 6.7 percent. The nationwide jobless rate was 4.9 percent.

The separate payroll survey, used by many economists as their top labor market indicator, improved even as the worker survey worsened. Payrolls increased in July by 4,000 to 1.14 million, about 8,000 over July 2015 levels.

The U.S. Labor Department Friday released both sets of figures, adjusted to cancel out seasonal changes.