Unemployment within Pearl River County fell by more than a percentage point between the months of March and April of this year.

According to information released by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, Pearl River County’s unemployment rate for the month of April was 6.6 percent, a decrease from March’s rate of 7.7 percent.

Pearl River County’s unemployment rate in April of 2013 was 7.8 percent, the report states.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Mississippi for April was 7.5 percent, a slight decrease from the previous month’s rate of 7.6 percent. In April of 2013 Mississippi’s adjusted unemployment rate was 8.8 percent.

Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was 6.3 percent, a decrease from the previous month’s rate of 6.7 percent.

A year ago in April the nationwide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent.

Seasonally adjusted rates factor in patterns such as weather, holidays, school schedules and other occurrences that regularly affect employment rates. Only nationwide and statewide percentages are adjusted.

Mississippi’s unadjusted rate for April was 6.8 percent, the report states. The state’s unadjusted rate for March was 8 percent. The unadjusted rate for Mississippi in April 2013 was 8.1 percent.

Nationwide, the unadjusted unemployment rate in April was 5.9 percent, a decrease from March’s rate of 6.8 percent. In April of 2013 the unadjusted unemployment rate in the United States was 7.1 percent. Of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 28 reported rates less than the statewide-unadjusted average of 6.8 percent.