November 25, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County’s jobless rate for October was 4.8%, up from 4.5% in September and an increase from 3.9% in October 2017.
The local labor force for October was 7,890. A total of 7,520 were working and 380 were unemployed.
Jobless rates for October among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:
Van Buren: 5%
Jackson: 4.9%
Warren: 4.9%
DeKalb: 4.8%
Clay: 4.4%
Fentress: 4.3%
Pickett: 4.2%
Cumberland: 4.2%
Overton: 3.9%
White: 3.9%
Putnam: 3.6%
Cannon: 3.5%
Macon: 3.4%
Smith: 3.1%
Unemployment rates dropped in 26 Tennessee counties and remained the same in 36 counties when compared to September statistics. Thirty-three counties across the state experienced an increase in unemployment during October.
Williamson County continued to have the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.7 percent, which was the same rate the previous month. Davidson County’s October rate remained unchanged at 2.9 percent. Rutherford County also recorded an unemployment rate of 2.9 percent in October, which mirrored its rate from September.
“It’s interesting how nearly all the counties with the lowest unemployment in the state showed no movement in their rates during October,” said TDLWD Commissioner Burns Phillips. “And that was the case with more than one-third of the counties in Tennessee. It is just one more sign the state’s economy is holding strong.”
Lauderdale County had Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate in October at 6.8 percent, up from 6.5 percent in September. At 6.1 percent, Bledsoe County recorded the state’s second highest rate of the month, which was 0.2 of a percentage point higher than the previous month.
“While the employment situation is holding steady in a majority of the state’s counties, we do have areas that experienced an uptick in unemployment last month,” said Phillips. “We need to take a look at those counties and work with our local partners to see what we can do to increase access to new jobs for all Tennesseeans.”
Statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment inched up in Tennessee last month. At 3.7 percent, the rate increased by 0.1 of a percentage point. Nationally, the unemployment rate held steady for the second consecutive month at 3.7 percent.
Tennesseans searching for employment can access the state’s workforce development website where they will find a wide range of helpful information and services.