By David Howell

Panola County’s unemployment rate has seesawed the past few months, going up in July by more than half a point over June.

The July 2010 rate of 14.7 percent marks the highest rate in July that the county has recorded in more than five years.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security based the figure on an estimated 2,200 workers in the county who did not have a job. That same agency records the county’s total labor force at 14,990.

Last year, the July unemployment rate peaked with double-digit unemployment at 13.6 percent, the first July rate in recent years that passed the double-digit figure.

In previous years, the July rate had fluctuated between eight and nine percent.

Mississippi’s unemployment rate for July was 11.5 percent, increasing four-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month’s rate of 11.1 percent.

The nation’s unemployment rate for July 2010 at 9.7 percent was up one-tenth of a percentage point over the month, but was unchanged from the year ago rate.

For the month, only 21 counties in Mississippi posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state’s rate of 11.5 percent.

Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment rate for the month of July at 6.9 percent. Twenty-four counties reported rates greater than or equal to 15.0 Holmes County had the highest unemployment rate for June at 22.7 percent.