Fewer people were unemployed in Warren County in March due in part to a program geared to encourage hiring skilled workers in need of employment.

Mississippi STEPS, which funds salaries and benefits of eligible workers for up to six months if workers stick with matched employers, is responsible for about 40 new hires in areas ranging from retail to child care, with many openings having been filled by students, according to the Vicksburg WIN Job Center.

Felicia Bell, 27, landed a job at Kiddie Kollege on Grove Street while she continues in the masters program at Alcorn State University.

“It gives me experience with children of different ages,” Bell said. “My plans are to become an elementary school teacher.”

Local unemployment was 11.6 percent in March, down from a revised 12.5 percent in February, according to figures released Wednesday by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. A similar drop was recorded statewide, which stood at 11.1 percent from a revised 12.1 percent in February.

Nationally, unemployment was 10.2 percent in March, down from 10.4 percent in February. Adjusted for seasonal factors in the work force, the state’s rate becomes 11.5 percent and the nationwide rate becomes 9.7 percent. Unemployment in Mississippi stood at 8.9 percent a year ago, according to adjusted figures.

“Between the STEPS program and the recent increase of job orders, it has contributed to the lower number,” said Terry Hodges, branch director for the Vicksburg WIN Job Center.

Employers with between 25 and 50 workers with a work site located inside Mississippi are eligible to receive employees from the program. Participants must be 18 years old, have a child at home younger than 18 and make no more than 250 percent of federal poverty guidelines, up to families of eight.

Job orders placed with the employment office on Monroe Street have been brisk in the past two months, taking in large-scale manufacturing and smaller businesses like private security, office manager Tim Crudup said.

Rankin County posted the lowest unemployment in March, at 7.1 percent, down from 7.9 percent in February. Holmes and Noxubee counties recorded the state’s highest, at 21.8 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively. Rates for Issaquena County stood at 15.5 percent, down from 18.2 percent last month. Rates for Sharkey, Claiborne and Jefferson counties stood at 14.1 percent, 16.9 percent and 18.3 percent for the month, each down more than a point since February.

•

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com