State economist Corey Miller talked about the Mississippi economy before a group of journalists and community leaders at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum at Hal & Mal's in downtown Jackson.
One of the main topics of discussion was Mississippi's low participation rate, which is slightly lower than the national average.
The participation rate is the percentage of the population which is working or seeking work.
The participation rate is lowered when more people are in school, retired, disabled or staying home raising children.
The national participation rate is about 60 percent but Mississippi's is about two percentage points lower.
Nationwide, the participation rate dropped slightly during the Covid years but has since recovered to pre-Covid levels.
Perplexingly, Mississippi's participation rate has not fully recovered to pre-Covid levels. Miller discusses his thoughts as to why in the attached video.
In the video, Miller discusses a wide variety of economic issues facing the state, including his projections on how recent reductions in the state income tax rate will affect state economic health.
At the end of his talk, Miller answered a variety of questions from the state press.
