As Tennesseans continue to rejoin the workforce, all but one of the state’s 95 counties experienced lower unemployment in July, according to new data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Sixty-two counties had unemployment rates lower than 5%, while rates were 5% or higher, but less than 10%, in 32 counties. Unemployment was above 10% in one county.
The Metro Chattanooga region, which encompasses Chattanooga, Cleveland and Dalton, dropped 1.3% from last year, to 4.0%, with city unemployment at 3.9%.
Williamson County continued to record the lowest unemployment numbers in the state with a rate of 2.7%, down 0.7 of a percentage point from its June statistic. Moore County had Tennessee’s second-lowest unemployment rate for July at 3%, down 0.7 of a percentage point when compared to the previous month.
Perry was the only county with a jobless number of over 10%. Its July rate of 10.4% represented a 2.6 percentage point drop from its June rate of 13%. Shelby County had the state’s second-highest rate for the month at 7.5%, which was 0.6 of a percentage point lower than the June rate.
Weakley was the only county to experience an increase in unemployment. Its rate inched upward during the month from 5.2% to 5.5%.
County unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted to factor in seasonal economic influences.
The statewide unemployment situation improved for the second consecutive month. Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted July rate of 4.7% was 0.2 of a percentage point lower than June’s revised rate of 4.9%.
The unemployment situation also improved nationally in July, but still came in higher than Tennessee’s rate. The seasonally adjusted rate for the United States dropped 0.5 of a percentage point to 5.4%.
A complete analysis of the July 2021 county unemployment data, including data for each of the state’s metropolitan and micropolitan areas, can be found here.
The state of Tennessee is working to make job seekers TN Work Ready. Individuals can find the resources needed to search for jobs, earn a high school equivalency diploma, and remove barriers to work at www.TNWorkReady.com.