Warren County’s unemployment rate was down in November along with the state’s, according to numbers released Tuesday.

Joblessness was 7.1 percent for the month, down from 8 percent, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. The local rate had been 8 percent three months in a row.

Fewer people were counted in the county’s labor force for the month, at 19,270 workers. A revised figure showed 19,530 for October. The number of persons counted unemployed was 1,370, down from 1,570 reported for October.

Statewide, unemployment stood at 6.4 percent, down almost a full point from October. The state reported job losses this month in the government and leisure/hospitality sectors. Seasonally adjusted, the state’s rate was still 7.3 percent and the highest in the nation.

Wednesday, the Labor Department reported Mississippi employers’ payrolls fell by 4,500 in November and that the education and health services sectors added jobs.

The national rate was 5.9 percent in September, down from 6.1 percent in August. New jobless claims were down Wednesday, the Labor Department reported by 280,000, the lowest mark in seven weeks.

Rates in Claiborne and Sharkey counties were up for the month, at 11.7 and 7.2 percent respectively. Issaquena County’s rate was 10.7 percent, up from 10.2 percent in October.

The unemployment rate is calculated by a survey that asks how many people are looking for a job. A second survey each month asks employers how many people are on their payrolls, a measure many economists use as their top labor market indicator.