EDITORIAL: We have jobs, we need workers

The latest unemployment numbers came out last week.

Unemployment in Mississippi stands at 2.8-percent for May, the latest month with hard and fast numbers. The national rate is 4.1-percent and in Coahoma County, 4.8- percent.

This is after record lows of about 4- to 5-percent at the state level and about 7-percent in counties across the Delta region this past winter.

But here is the real number. Claims paid to the “newly unemployed” in Mississippi topped $72 million in April, up from $65 million in March.

Where does this money come from? The answer is simple, from those still working. Coahoma County has a population of 20,628 and in April had a labor force of 7,310 people with 6,960 employed.

Mayor Chuck Espy said this week the city can’t find men, young men, even teenagers, to mow grass, pick up litter downtown and in their neighborhoods.

A Coahoma County company has told us he hired 100 workers last year and at the end of the year they had retained 30. The top reasons listed for that turnover were a lack of soft-skills in new hires. These are employees who lack a strong work ethic, leadership skills, communication skills, problem-solving, time management and teamwork.

The inability to pass a drug test also keeps people from landing a job they really want – or maybe just applying for it in the first place. The saddest part of the COVID-19 scare was it put thousands on the government dole and the chronically unemployed are not reflected in these numbers

Statistics show that once someone is on social assistance it is often several years before they come off. It is easy to curse government welfare programs as the heart of the problem, we prefer to look at solutions.

Restaurants are looking for employees and industry and tech companies in this community are looking hard to fill positions. Nurses and nurses aides are in high demand.

There are jobs out there. There are mothers who want a better life for their children. There are fathers who want a better life for the wife and family. There are recent graduates who are looking for a job.

Your Clarksdale Press Register is just thankful for those who still want a job.

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