I routinely get asked how we at Empower Mississippi selected our three pillars of focus: education, work, and justice. The truth is pretty simple: the Empower board of directors understands that these three challenges are so interconnected that they represent one significant, life-changing opportunity for prosperity, if lawmakers have the courage to act with boldness. As a lifelong Mississippian who has traveled this state extensively, it is clear to me that these three areas must be addressed together to create the kind of Mississippi that offers opportunity for everyone to flourish.
A breakdown of Mississippi’s Labor Force Participation rate is one illustration that demonstrates just how interconnected these three issues are.
Mississippi leaders recently celebrated a milestone achievement as the state’s unemployment rate reached a historic low of 3.4% in April 2023. While this is great news for Mississippians who want to work, because it means they are finding jobs, it doesn’t tell the whole story of the overall health of the state’s workforce or economy.
The unemployment rate only measures the number of unemployed people as a percentage of people who are working or looking for work. Another, perhaps more telling measure, is the percentage of people in the state who are working or looking for work. That measure is called the “labor force participation rate”. A higher labor force participation rate, particularly when coupled with a low unemployment rate, typically indicates a healthier economy and is associated with economic growth.
While Mississippi’s unemployment rate has reached record lows, so too has the state’s labor force participation rate. At 54.4% for March 2023, Mississippi’s labor force participation rate was the lowest it has been in over forty years (excluding the drastic drop associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). Though that number increased slightly to 54.5% in April, the state still ranks last in the country in seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate.
The question is: Why are so many adults in Mississippi not working or
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