Eighty of Tennessee’s 95 counties recorded an unemployment rate in March 2019 that is lower compared to the same time last year according to newly released data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Also, in the year-to-year comparison, the rates in nine counties held steady, while six counties saw increases.
Comparing March 2019 statistics to the previous month, 69 counties experienced a slight uptick in unemployment, while rates decreased in 17 counties and remained the same in nine Tennessee counties. Cannon was one with the uptick.
Williamson County has the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.4 percent, which is a 0.3 of a percentage point increase from February but is still 0.1 of a percentage point lower than this time last year.
Clay County has the state’s highest unemployment rate in March at 6.0 percent, up 0.7 of a percentage point from the previous month. The latest rate is also up 0.8 percent from March 2018.
In Cannon County, 6,360 persons were working in March out of 6,560 who can work. This results in 200 persons looking for employment resulting in a 3.0 percent rate of unemployment. In all of the surrounding counties, DeKalb has the highest unemployment rate of 4.9 percent. Rutherford with the lowest at 2.5 percent.
Statewide, unemployment remains at a historic low in Tennessee. The March 2019 seasonally adjusted rate of 3.2 percent is unchanged from February when unemployment reached an all-time low in the state.
Across the nation, unemployment in March also remained the same as the previous month at 3.8 percent.
You can find additional information about Tennessee labor statistics on the state’s workforce development website, Jobs4TN.gov.
