UPPER CUMBERLAND – The Upper Cumberland’s unemployment rate continues to drop, but the region continues to fail to keep pace with the state.
The UC posted a 5.9 percent mark in October, which is an improvement across the board both year-over-year and month-over-month. But as a whole, the region still has a higher percentage of jobless workers. Tennessee’s rate for the same period was 5.4 non-seasonally adjusted, a 0.5 percentage point difference.
Macon had the region’s lowest unemployment at 4.8. Smith came in at 5.0, followed by Cannon (5.3), Putnam (5.4), Warren (5.7) and White (5.7). Rounding out the region were Fentress (6.3), Overton (6.3), Cumberland (6.4), DeKalb (6.6), Jackson (6.8), Van Buren (7.4) and Pickett (7.5).
Clay County ranked among the top 10 counties with the highest unemployment rates. Its rate was 7.8 percent.
Statewide, rates decreased in 90 counties overall. For the month, Tennessee’s non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than September. The national unemployment for October, as a comparison, was 4.8 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
| Counties | October | September | October 2014 |
| Cannon | 5.3 | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Clay | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.2 |
| Cumberland | 6.4 | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| DeKalb | 6.6 | 7.1 | 7.8 |
| Fentress | 6.3 | 6.9 | 8.1 |
| Jackson | 6.8 | 7.4 | 8.0 |
| Macon | 4.8 | 5.3 | 6.0 |
| Overton | 6.3 | 6.5 | 7.4 |
| Pickett | 7.5 | 6.8 | 8.7 |
| Putnam | 5.4 | 5.7 | 6.4 |
| Smith | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.8 |
| Van Buren | 7.4 | 7.7 | 9.2 |
| Warren | 5.7 | 5.9 | 6.8 |
| White | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.9 |
| UC | 5.9 | 6.2 | 7.0 |
| TN* | 5.4 | 5.7 | 6.3 |
*Not seasonally adjusted
