In Tunica County, High Unemployment and High Hopes for Stimulus Funds

Despite all the casinos, Tunica County has the highest unemployment rate in the state.

The Mississippi Delta is one of the most impoverished regions in the country. Many local leaders have high expectations that the federal economic stimulus package will change things. But as Cari Gervin found out on a trip to Tunica, it won’t be that easy.

Tunica County used to be the poorest county in Mississippi. That all changed when the casinos arrived in the early 1990’s.

Still, unemployment in Tunica County has remained high over the years, just like in the rest of the Delta. And as the recession has lengthened, the casinos have laid off more than a thousand employees.

Factor in the general economic malaise and the lack of seasonal farm employment, and Tunica County had the highest unemployment rate in the state in January – 19.5 percent, more than double the Mississippi average.

So, when you talk to people outside the WIN Job Center in Tunica, and you ask them if they think the economic stimulus package will make a difference in their job search, you hear something like this:

“Well, I – I hope it do."

That’s Jamarrio Smith. He’s 22, and he’s lived in Tunica County his whole life. He lost his $9.50-an-hour job in the banquet department of the Gold Strike Casino last December in a round of layoffs.

Smith says he’s had a rough time trying to find a new job. And with two small children to support, he’s getting worried.

“Well it’s kind of hard, you know, struggling, trying to feed them and you know, thinking, how we’re going to eat from day to day.”

So will the stimulus package help people like Smith? Clifton Johnson is the Tunica County administrator, and he says it could.

“For example, almost everything we’re looking at like is construction-type projects, so I think to that extent that there would be some additional jobs created during construction.”

Tunica County has asked for $16.9 million in stimulus funding from the Delta Regional Authority, or DRA, which is handling many of the municipal grants for the region. The proposed projects are all infrastructure-related – road improvements, new water and sewer lines, fire protection facilities, and a terminal at the airport.

But Clifton Johnson says that while any new jobs created by construction will be great, it’s even more important for the stimulus funds to keep people in the jobs they have.

“I think, you know, part of the stimulus funds have been set aside to keep governments running. To the extent that those funds can keep people employed, keep people working, keep the service levels up where they need to be, yeah, I’m totally in support of that.”

Lynn Sturgill has been the town of Tunica’s mayor for the past four years. Unlike Clifton Johnson, Sturgill says she isn’t a fan of the stimulus package. But she wasn’t going to let her political views prevent her from trying to get funding.

The town’s water and sewer lines were built in the 1950’s, and the city’s been slowly replacing them piece by piece over the past decade. Sturgill wants to finish the project.

“It would be nice to have this economic stimulus money to go ahead and complete that in one fell swoop.”

Like everyone else, Sturgill is still waiting to hear if her projects will be funded, and if so, how much the town will receive. But she isn’t counting on any jobs coming out of it.

“And really and truly I don’t know how this stimulus package is gonna help people in this town, other than giving us a better water and sewer system. I don’t know how it’s going to help individuals at all.”

Altogether, the 18 counties in the Delta are seeking $340 million dollars for projects from the DRA. Pete Johnson is the head of the DRA. Sitting in his office in Clarksdale, he says he hopes the money can do a lot of good for the region. But he warns that some expectations may be too high.

“Many believe this is going to be the be all and end all to our economic development problems, and I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I do think it’s going to help many struggling cities, many struggling counties, that need additional funds, that ordinarily didn’t have any source to look to. But from the standpoint of it having a long-term repercussion, I don’t think we’re going to see that happen.”

Only one thing is certain, Pete Johnson says – it’s going to take a lot more time and a lot more money to restore the Delta to the prosperity it once had, when cotton was king.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.