County unemployment rates for September 2014, released last week, show the rate decreased in 94 counties and increased in one. Cannon County saw the unemployment rate decrease 1 percentage point from the August rate of 6.6 percent to 5.6 percent. Out of an estimated 6,460 workforce 6,160 people were employed while 360 people were unemployed. Cannon’s unemployment rate at this time last year was 7.1 percent. All surrounding counties saw a decrease in their unemployment figures as Coffee and Dekalb Counties reported a 6.1 percent unemployment rate. Warren had the highest of the surrounding counties with a 6.8 unemployment rate while Rutherford was at 5.1 and Wilson reported the lowest unemployment rate of the surrounding counties with a 5.0 percent The Tennessee preliminary unemployment rate for September was 7.3 percent, one tenth of one percentage point lower than the 7.4 August revised rate. The U.S. preliminary rate for September was 5.9 percent, down from 6.1 percent in August.
