Mississippi Today has partnered with WJTV to provide live streams and videos of press conferences regarding Jackson’s water crisis. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke to media at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Watch the full video below:
The post Video: Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba on water crisis appeared first on Mississippi Today.
Mississippi Today’s data and environment reporter Alex Rozier talked with Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd about recent developments in the Jackson water crisis that have left thousands with little to no drinking water. Find our full coverage here.
Listen to the episode:
The post Listen: Environment reporter Alex Rozier discusses Jackson’s water crisis on WBUR appeared first on Mississippi Today.
One month before the city of Jackson water system began failing, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessment team flagged numerous system problems in a July 2022 report.
The report, obtained by Mississippi Today, documents a litany of problems contributing to the capital city’s long-running and ongoing water crisis, which threatens the health and livelihoods of its residents.
The report was written following the latest independent assessment of Jackson’s water system and was compiled jointly with the EPA and Mississippi State Department of Health. The state Department of Health is tasked with enforcing EPA safe water regulations.
For several years, the EPA has documented many problems with the Jackson water system and has entered into several binding legal agreements with the city to improve the system’s safety and reliability. Since then, federal assessment teams have checked in on the system to determine whether the city is complying with the federal agreements.
In an April 2020 emergency order, the EPA found that the Jackson water system “presented an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons served by the system.”
A 2021 agreement between the EPA and city of Jackson sought to correct the problems with the quality of the water. But this summer, amid continuous boil water notices and culminating with the governor issuing the state of emergency this week to try to address problems with the capital city’s water system, indications are the improvements outlined in the agreement have not been achieved.
The problems highlighted in the July 2022 report include:
The report notes the utilities manager position was vacant, which the city said was because of budget limitations. The system has no succession plan for management.
There are insufficient operators to consistently staff three shifts, seven days a week, and staff are unable to take time off without forcing remaining staff to work extra hours. Supervisors are working shifts in addition to their management responsibilities and lack of distribution system workers doesn’t allow for preventive maintenance.
Operator turnover is high, with some reporting working 75 hours a week without overtime pay.
The report said the city was unable to provide a complete list of customers when inspectors visited, and explained that some customers receive no bills, while others receive large bills. The city could not calculate its collection rate, and said this issue isn’t expected to be resolved until late 2024.
The report said malfunctioning water meters have contributed to a 32-percent decrease in revenue. In March, the report said, the city reported 14,000 bills were “stranded,” or not sent to or received by customers. The city reported that about 50% of the water put out is “non-revenue,” and that it is unclear how much is due to meter issues or water loss.
Data from 2011 through 2022 shows discolored water complaints have been reduced in recent years, but there has been an increase in pressure complaints since 2014 and odor complaints since 2016.
In part due to lack of staff, the report says, the city fails to collect and record continuous pressure data, which could identify problems spots and prevent contamination in the system. Routine flushing of the system is not performed and valves and hydrants are not maintained.
The report says water hasn’t been cycled in and out of tanks frequently to maintain adequate chlorine levels. The report said that the Maddox and Spring Hill tanks “were not evaluated because the tank levels never change (i.e. water was not draining from or filling the tanks). The Byram water tank, the report said, “has never filled as expected,” likely because a bottling plant near the tank increased demand.
The report said that from 2017 through 2021, the system saw average annual line breaks of 55 per 100 miles of line — far exceeding the 15 breaks per 100 miles a year that is considered safe. The study showed some areas, such as the North Jackson and Seneca Street areas have extremely high frequency of line breaks because they still use aged, small diameter cast-iron pipe.
The July 2022 report says the EPA, using federal pandemic stimulus money, has contracted with the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina to assess the financial status and operations of Jackson’s water system. The EPA report said the assessment team will consider whether it would be better for the system to be governed by an entity other than the Jackson City Council “to determine whether another model would be successful.”
Discussions about whether the city is equipped to continue to manage its water system are ongoing at the Mississippi State Capitol.
At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the city has been trying to follow the recommendations of the EPA. Responding to questions Tuesday from Mississippi Free Press reporter Nick Judin, who wrote about EPA concerns with the city’s recruitment of water system managers, the mayor said several steps have been taken to find additional operators for the city’s water treatment system.
Those efforts, the mayor said, having included trying to recruit people who can earn their certification as an operator, trying to contract with a third party to provide operators, entering into a national association that could provide help and bringing back retired operators on a part-time basis.
“We have committed every dollar we could find to resolve this problem,” Lumumba said.
The post Feds flagged dire Jackson water problems a month before the system failed appeared first on Mississippi Today.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced late Tuesday night that President Joe Biden had approved an emergency declaration for the Jackson water crisis.
The drinking water system in Jackson — Mississippi’s largest city and home to more than 160,000 residents — is failing, state officials announced on Monday. Thousands of Jackson residents have no or little water pressure, and officials cannot say when adequate, reliable service will be restored.
Biden’s emergency declaration will scramble federal resources to assist local and state officials. Emergency protective measures, the White House said, will be provided at 75% federal funding for a period of 90 days.
“The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population,” a White House press release said.
READ MORE: Mayor Lumumba says water connections being restored, welcomes state to the table
Biden’s decision will “provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures … to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Hinds County.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Jean-Pierre said that President Biden had been briefed on the Jackson water crisis situation.
READ MORE: ‘Won’t be solved overnight’: Gov. Tate Reeves gives update on Jackson water crisis
The post President Biden declares emergency for Jackson water crisis appeared first on Mississippi Today.
Tractor-trailer loads of bottled water are rolling in, the state is rounding up some private contractors and a rented emergency pump should be running by Wednesday morning, but Gov. Tate Reeves said he can’t say when Mississippi’s capital city will have clean, plentiful drinking water on tap again.
“After the briefing I just received, things are not significantly worse today than they were yesterday,” Reeves said Tuesday afternoon after meetings at the city’s O.B. Curtis treatment plant and talking with Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. “They’re not significantly better, but we are seeing some progress and have some plans in place to see some more progress.”
The state, city and Mississippi’s health department all declared states of emergency Tuesday and Reeves called on President Joe Biden to declare a federal one after announcements Monday that Jackson’s main water treatment plan was failing — again — after decades of neglected maintenance and recent flooding from the Pearl River.
Thousands of homes and businesses in the capital city have little or no running water, and that after a month of residents being warned to boil it before drinking and years of warning that it contains harmful contaminants.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, health department and even National Guard are mobilizing to help with the issue. Reeves said the focus right now is getting drinking and non-potable water to residents and makeshift repairs to the plant. He vowed to work with the city and state lawmakers after to find more permanent solutions, but wouldn’t speculate what those might be. The current crisis — after a near citywide outage for weeks in 2021 after winter storms — has renewed calls for state intervention or even a take-over of the system.
Reeves and Craig said that as fixes are made at the plant, there is concern other things will break because of neglected maintenance — and the plant lacks “redundancy” and staff.
Reeves said Tuesday it was impossible to say how many of the roughly 160,000 people served by the system are without water — that it depends on how close one is to a water tank, elevation and numerous other factors. But Jim Craig, director of health protection for the state health department, said that the O.B. Curtis plant, rated for 50 million gallons of water a day, on Tuesday was only pushing about 30 million gallons. But, he said, some headway was made in filling water tanks to increase pressure. Officials said that of 10 tanks on the system, about half are at extremely low levels.
Get the latest updates on the Jackson water crisis.
While he would not speak to long-term solutions, Reeves said that in addition to Lumumba, he also spoke with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, House Speaker Philip Gunn and members of the city’s legislative delegation and vowed to work with them on long-term fixes once the current crisis is in hand. Lumumba in a presser earlier Tuesday said the city has struggled “alone” for years with infrastructure issues and “we are excited to finally welcome the state to the table.”
READ MORE: Mayor Lumumba says water connections being restored, welcomes state to the table
This would appear to be progress in what has been an icy relationship between the majority Black, majority Democratic capital city and the white Republican state leadership that runs most of state government from Jackson.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Stephen McCraney at the O.B. Curtis briefing said the state’s emergency team had been checking on 71 care facilities across the city making sure patients were OK and worked to secure drinking and non-potable water and water for firefighting. He said 10 tractor trailer loads of drinking water arrived Tuesday, and 108 more truckloads are en route. He said that by Thursday at noon, there will be seven “mega distribution sites” set up citywide that will be able to distribute 36 truckloads of water a day.
McCraney said Anheuser-Busch, Walmart, Sav-A-lot and other companies are donating water and that volunteer organizations are offering help. Those who want to help can email memainfo@mema.ms.gov for more information.
READ MORE: President Joe Biden briefed on Jackson water crisis
Reeves was questioned by press at the briefing about conflicting city and state statements or info, including Reeves’ statement Monday night that “raw” water from the Ross Barnett Reservoir had been pumped through the drinking water system. At his presser earlier Tuesday, Lumumba said this was inaccurate.
Craig said, “There was water that was not optimally treated, is probably a more accurate way to put it.”
Reeves said, “Sometimes the answer is both-and, rather than either-or … It was somewhere between raw and not clean — which is not ideal.”
Reeves reiterated to Jacksonians: “Do not drink the water. To be clear, do not drink the water at this time.”
Craig clarified that people can drink the water after boiling it (the health department recommends a rolling boil of at least one minute), but should not consume it without boiling. He said it’s OK to bathe in it, but “don’t open your mouth while you’re in the shower,” and be especially careful that infants and those with compromised immune system don’t consume un-boiled water.
READ MORE: Here’s where to get water in Jackson
We’re keeping you informed with the latest on the Jackson water crisis. You can help sustain this news by donating any amount today to join the Mississippi Today member community.
The post ‘Won’t be solved overnight’: Gov. Tate Reeves gives update on Jackson water crisis appeared first on Mississippi Today.
The drinking water system in Jackson — Mississippi’s largest city and home to more than 160,000 residents — is failing, state officials announced on Monday. Thousands of Jackson residents already have no or little water pressure, and officials cannot say when adequate, reliable service will be restored.
The city water system has been plagued with problems for years, including tens of thousands of residents losing water between one and three weeks during a 2021 winter storm.
At a press conference Monday night, Gov. Tate Reeves said the city’s largest water treatment plants may be completely down.
“The O.B. Curtis plant is not operating anywhere near full capacity,” Reeves said. “We may find out tomorrow it’s not operating at all. We’ll have better visibility on that when we get in there tomorrow.”
Reeves announced he would sign an emergency declaration for the capital city’s water system and create an “incident command center” to distribute water to the city’s residents beginning Tuesday morning.
“Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,” Reeves said. “It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs.”
BACKGROUND: ‘A profound betrayal of trust’: Why Jackson’s water system is broken
When Reeves announced the system was failing Monday at 7 p.m., Jackson leaders, including Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, had not addressed the public about the failure of the water system. Lumumba did declare a “water system emergency” Monday around 6 p.m., saying in a statement the “water shortage is likely to last the next couple of days.”
Lumumba was not invited by Reeves to attend the Monday evening press conference. While Reeves said he had not spoken directly with the mayor, he did say the city leader had agreed to work with state officials to address the problem. Employees with the Mississippi State Department of Health will be working Tuesday with city operators to try to get the plant back on line.
“The operators (of the O.B. Curtis facility) have been heroic, just not enough of them,” Reeves said, adding the city employees will be crucial to get the plant running again.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney urged Jackson residents to “husband their water resources,” and to boil their water for three minutes before using it to drink, brush teeth, or cook.
Reeves revealed that he became aware of the possibility that O.B. Curtis could fail completely on Friday. State health officials told him that the city was relying on backup pumps because the main pumps had been “damaged severely” around the time the current boil water notice went into place on July 29.
“We were told on Friday that there was no way to predict exactly when, but that it was a near certainty that Jackson would begin to fail to produce running water sometime in the next several weeks or months if something didn’t materially improve,” Reeves said. “We began preparing for a scenario where Jackson would be without running water for an extended period.”
The governor said his team began coming up with a water distribution plan over the weekend.
“All of this was with the prayer that we would have more time before their system ran to failure,” Reeves said. “Unfortunately that failure appears to have begun today.”
READ MORE: Flooding exacerbates Jackson’s water crisis, raises calls for state intervention
On Tuesday, an incident command center will be set up and state employees will go into the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant to try to restore it to full operation. The plant has been operating at partial capacity for a number of days, Reeves said. For more than a month, the city has been under a state health department-issued boil water notice, but on Monday because of the problems with the plant much of Jackson lost water pressure.
Reeves said the first goal is to restore water quantity so that people can flush toilets and take a shower and then to restore quality to end the boil water notice.
As a short-term plan, Reeves said the state will cashflow emergency improvements, maintenance and repairs, which will include contracting operators to assist at the treatment plant. He said Mayor Lumumba agreed to a plan where the city would be responsible for half of the cost of the operation.
“We will come up with a solution that will be great for the city of Jackson,” said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency executive director Stephen McCraney. The governor, though, did not address long-term plans involving possible legislation to earmark state funds to provide a long-term fix for the troubled water system.
McCraney added that Hinds County Emergency Management Agency had secured water for potential firefighting needs and that the state would be bringing in both water for drinking and for other sanitary needs.
He said it is not unlike what MEMA, in conjunction with the National Guard and other agencies, do after hurricanes. But as of Monday night, the governor had not activated the National Guard to assist the Jackson crisis.
“It is a massive undertaking,” McCraney said, adding “the state of Mississippi is good at distribution.”
Water will first be available at fire stations in town.
O.B. Curtis is supposed to provide about 50 million gallons for the city daily while Fewell, the other main treatment plant, provides 20 million. Fewell has been ramped up to provide 30 million.
Reeves said it is not clear how much of Jackson is completely without water.
The announcement comes after weekend Pearl River flooding caused some businesses and schools to close Monday and prompted some leaders to call for the state to take action on the city water system.
Jackson Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the state, announced Monday night that it would switch to virtual learning “indefinitely” due to water shortages. Jackson State University announced Monday night it would hold classes virtually for the remainder of the week, adding that water will be delivered to all residential halls and temporary restrooms will be available to students and faculty beginning Tuesday morning.
READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s full coverage of the Jackson water crisis
The post Jackson water system is failing, city will be with no or little drinking water indefinitely appeared first on Mississippi Today.
LEXINGTON – The firing of former police chief Sam Dobbins wasn’t enough, and he should be held accountable for crimes he has admitted to and those that happened under his watch, a civil rights attorney and community organizers said.
Civil rights Attorney Malik Shabazz announced Monday outside the Lexington Police Department that Washington, D.C.- based legal group Black Lawyers for Justice plans to review the police department and how it operated under Dobbins.
“The department will be investigated on the principles of what has come out of the mouth of the chief of this department,” he said. “We will make sure that everything is investigated even if nobody comes forward or if everybody is intimidated. The United States of America is watching this.”
Dobbins was fired in July after an audio recording surfaced of him using a racial slur and homophobic language, bragging about killing 13 people as a member of the police force and shooting one person 119 times.
Despite his firing, Shabazz said his office has received reports that Dobbins has been seen at the police department and fear he may be destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses.
Priscilla Sterling of the Emmett Till Justice for Families Foundation is Till’s cousin. She said after 67 years, justice has not been served for his death. Several weeks ago, a grand jury declined to indict the last living accomplice, Carolyn Bryant Donham, after the discovery of new evidence.
Sterling connected the impact political interest and white supremacy had on Till’s case with circumstances that led to Dobbins becoming police chief in Lexington and how he has not been held accountable for his actions.
“We can no longer let that happen. We can no longer allow this to happen,” Sterling said. “We’ve seen what happened with Emmett.”
Black Lawyers for Justice will host a tribunal at 5 p.m. Monday where residents are invited to testify about any illegal action taken by Dobbins while he was police chief and member of the police department.
The tribunal will take place at the restaurant LaRue’s Room located at 2201 Depot Road.
People can testify and give statements about a number of actions by Dobbins or the Lexington Police Department, including unlawful killings and shootings, use of excessive force, false arrests, racial profiling, systyematic policy and training and more, Shabazz said.
Other organizations co-sponsoring the hearing include Emmett Till Justice for Families Foundation, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Mississippi Local Organizing Committee, Black Liberation Movement and the New Black Panther Party.
Another goal of the hearing is to collect evidence to expand the legal action against Dobbins. Shabazz said that can come in the form of cilvil action like compensatory damages awarded to people victimized by Dobbins, or criminal action, like charges of murder.
The Lexington Police Department has violated the constitutional rights of Black residents through behavior including retaliation for speaking out against police, false arrests, baseless vehicle searches and unreasonable police force, a federal lawsuit against Dobbins, the department and city alleges.
Civil rights organization JULIAN is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order against the police department to prevent mistreatment of residents.
The plaintiffs are five Black men who have experienced abuse by the Lexington police. Over 200 Black residents formally or informally complained about treatment by the police in the past year, according to the lawsuit.
The organization is also calling for a federal investigation of systemic racism in the Lexington Police Department and municipal government.
Shabazz said JULIAN’s lawsuit is strong, but it doesn’t cover every allegation against Dobbins.
“This is going to take some serious action to uproot what has gone on in this town,” he said. “I think this is the start. This is the start of a very long battle.”
The post Civil rights attorney calls for investigation, charges for former Lexington police chief appeared first on Mississippi Today.
Pearl River flooding is exacerbating Jackson’s drinking water crisis, bringing warnings of a system-wide outage, causing some businesses and schools to close Monday and prompting some leaders to call for the state to take action.
“Our understanding is the water and sewer system serving 250,000 citizens of the state and numerous businesses is at the brink of collapsing,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said. “We have grave concerns for citizens’ health and safety … I believe it is time for the state to take an active role in finding a solution — both short term and long term.”
House Speaker Philip Gunn said: “I’ve been contacted by hospitals, businesses and schools pleading that something be done to address the water crisis in Jackson. Unfortunately, the city leadership has not presented a permanent solution or a comprehensive plan. These groups have turned to the state for help, and it seems we will have to evaluate what options might be available.”
The city’s state Senate delegation on Monday called on Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session of the Legislature to address the crisis.
“The people of Jackson, Byram, Ridgeland and Hinds County are in day 32 of a boil-water notice,” the letter from the five senators said. “Water pressure issues are shutting down schools, businesses and government offices. Raw sewage discharge has closed the Pearl River. We need to act now. This issue is too important to wait until January and the 2023 legislative session.”
Some restaurants and other businesses in the Fondren area closed Monday as water pressure dropped to a trickle, and state agencies downtown were warned of a possible “system-wide water outage.” Several schools in the Jackson Public School District were forced to switch to virtual learning due to ongoing low water pressure and the threat of flooding.
Jackson’s antiquated, poorly maintained water and sewerage system has seen recurring failures — including loss of water for much of the city for a month after winter storms in 2021. Federal authorities have issued warnings the system is at risk of failure and of harmful contaminant levels. The city has been under a boil water notice for more than a month.
In a press conference on Monday to announce the Pearl River crested lower than expected and likely won’t bring widespread flooding of homes and businesses, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announced the city had to reduce pressure for the entire city water system because of infiltration of floodwater. He said low-pressure issues could persist for a few days.
But in a message to state agencies downtown, the state Department of Finance and Administration warned the situation may be even more dire, and “there may be a system-wide water outage for the City of Jackson for the next several days.”
“We have spoken to the Governor’s office regarding the possible outage,” the message to state agencies said. “Please use your discretion for the health and safety of your agency.”
Lumumba’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the discrepancy in messages.
The long-running city water crisis has prompted talk of a state intervention — perhaps even a takeover — of the system. But the estimated $1 billion price tag for a fix is daunting.
“I’m on the verge of saying that the state has got to step in and take over,” Gunn had said on Supertalk radio last week. “But the size of the problem is so great that I’m not even sure the state can meet the needs. It’s going to require federal help.”
Reeves’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comments Monday morning about possible state intervention.
On social media, state Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson — one of the five to call for a special legislative session — said it was time for the state to use a portion of its more than $2.5 billion in surplus funds to help fix the beleaguered water system.
Blount said, “It is important to remember that in the recent past the state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit regional utility authorities on the Gulf Coast and in DeSoto County. The state also sent money to Rankin County to build a new sewer plant. The state, with unprecedented money in the bank, must step up and invest in Jackson and save a system that serves almost one-10th of all Mississippians. We must aside political and partisan differences and act now.’
But Blount also pointed out that the system must be better run on a local level, pointing out the city is losing millions of dollars annually because many Jackson residents never receive bills for their water usage.
“If every treatment plant and pipe were fixed today, we’d be back in this situation soon without fixing the billing,” he said.
While officials took solace in the less-than-expected Pearl River flooding Monday, Lumumba announced that the city had to reduce water pressure for the entire system because of an adjusted treatment procedure.
“Because of the river water that’s coming into the plant, we have to change the way we treat the water,” Lumumba said during a press conference Monday. “Because of the chemical composition of the water coming in, they have to figure out how they can tend with that additional water coming in.
“That has led to the reduction of water being put out into the system which consequently reduces the tank levels and affects system-wide the water pressure in the homes of our residents.”
Later, the city issued a press release saying it was handing out bottled water to residents, at the Grove Park Community Center, while supplies last.
Lumumba’s comments on the latest Jackson water system woes came at the end of the press conference Monday after the Pearl River crested at just under 35 and a half feet that morning, under the original projection of 36 feet. The flood waters had only reached inside of one home, the mayor said.
The flooding came as a result of heavy rains last month, resulting in the wettest August on record for central Mississippi.
The post Flooding exacerbates Jackson’s water crisis, raises calls for state intervention appeared first on Mississippi Today.
PASCAGOULA — When Ingalls Shipbuilding announced plans this summer to hire more than 2,000 workers, they put perks up front: day-one benefits, 12 paid holidays, competitive pay.
And don’t forget the on-site Chick-Fil-A. The company says it has invested nearly $1 billion in its local facility.
“Attracting skilled workers is a top priority for Ingalls,” said spokesperson Kimberly Aguillard. “We are committed to finding and training the talent we need to build quality ships for our customers.”
Mississippi businesses are learning they have to pull out all the stops if they want to attract and retain workers. Economic uncertainty is looming overhead, inflation has pushed up costs and businesses from restaurants to shipbuilders and business services are struggling to fill all their needed positions.
“Workforce is the single biggest issue we face in the state of Mississippi as a whole,” said Ashley Edwards, the president of the Gulf Coast Business Council. “That is certainly echoed in business leaders across the Coast. They are very concerned about, and very focused on, workforce questions and workforce challenges.”
Mississippi gained back the bulk of jobs it lost during the pandemic but those gains stalled out over the last few months. The state is still about 2,000 jobs short of where it was before the pandemic began, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Mississippi employment market has remained relatively flat over the last six months, without any major losses or gains.
“Our economy has definitely slowed down along with the U.S.,” said state economist Corey Miller, referring to Mississippi. “But I don’t think we’re in a recession at present, but it’s still 50/50 if we will be in one within the next 12 months.”
That uncertainty has businesses on edge as they struggle to hire new workers. Miller said for every one person hired in a job, there’s still 1.5 openings – a statistic he said is true in both Mississippi and nationwide.
The state’s unemployment rate – now about 3.6% – has fallen to historic lows, but that’s not a full picture of what Mississippi businesses are facing. Economists say they still don’t have a great understanding of why people haven’t come back to the labor force entirely.
“The labor force is still smaller than it was before the pandemic,” Miller said. “Some of those people who are no longer unemployed are not in the labor force and that’s a phenomenon we have seen across the country.”
Mississippi’s labor participation rate – the percentage of Mississippians working or looking for work – is about 55%, according to BLS data. That’s about where it was before the pandemic began. But it’s much lower than the national average of about 62%.
“We want to dig into that more,” said Ryan Miller, the director of workforce development office Accelerate Mississippi. “Job rates are getting back to pre-COVID levels and yet we see labor participation rate, on the surface, could be better. We want to understand why and how we can move the needle.”
Accelerate Mississippi plans to commission a study to better understand the gaps between unemployment and the labor participation rate.
Ryan Miller – no relation to the state economist – said another thing his office is tackling is the barriers that may be keeping people from entering the traditional workforce, such as child care.
“What are the factors in the lives of Mississippains that are keeping them from engaging in the workforce?” he posed. “For specific population sectors, one of them being single mothers, they would probably love to participate in training (for a better job) but they can’t get the childcare and don’t have the latitude to participate.”
Accelerate Mississippi is looking into how new programming could help, like creating non-traditional child care options for when workers are in training classes for in-demand skilled work.
Experts largely agree the issue is more complex than the people simply don’t want to work anymore.
“There are probably folks who would rather not work,” said Miller, whose focus is getting more Missisippians in good-paying jobs to raise the state’s average wages. “But I think there are more Mississippians who if given the opportunity to the pathway to … have an opportunity to grow a skill, a chance for advancement, they’d take that.”
Jobs in accommodations and food services are slowly building back to pre-pandemic numbers, but restaurants are not only dealing with the inability to find workers but increased costs from inflation. The Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association says 55% of operators surveyed reported their businesses are understaffed and they do not not have enough employees to support demand.
The same survey found 79% of Mississippi restaurants say they’re less profitable now than they were in 2019.
The shortages have pushed up some pay for workers. But when looking at wages Mississippi-wide, the state economist predicts most gains will be a wash due to inflation.
Edwards, with the Gulf Coast Business Council, said business leaders are focusing their attention on recruitment efforts. Those needs will only be amplified as more baby boomers exit the workforce, Edwards said.
The pandemic spurred what many call “the Great Resignation,” where time off from work made many realize they wanted to start new careers, find a better work-life balance, or retire.
“Businesses are still coming to terms with the shift,” Edwards said.
The post Why Mississippi’s 3.6% unemployment rate isn’t the full picture of what businesses are facing appeared first on Mississippi Today.
