UC posts unemployment improvement; region still lags state statistics

UPPER CUMBERLAND – A majority of Upper Cumberland counties saw marked improvements in unemployment in November.

Four counties, including Cannon (5.8), Smith (6.1), Macon (6.6) and Putnam (6.6), were under 7 percent and had better marks than compared to November 2012. Thirteen total counties saw drops from October to November, including a 1.2 percentage point decrease in Warren County and a 1.1 percentage point drop in White.

DeKalb (7.1), Warren (7.9) Fentress (8.1), Cumberland (8.4), Jackson (9.2), White (9.9), Clay (10.0), Van Buren (10.0), Pickett (12.0), were all down month-to-month. Overton (8.3) was unchanged from October to November but up 1.0 percentage points from its November 2012 rate of 7.3. Also seeing a year-to-year spike was Cumberland, although its November rate (8.4) was 0.4 percentage points lower than in October.

Cumulatively, the region’s jobless rate in November (7.7) was slightly higher than the state’s, which was 7.4 percent or 0.9 percentage points better than October. The national unemployment, meanwhile, was 6.6 percent, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. The number of persons unemployed less than five weeks declined by more than 300,000 in November, the Department of Labor Statistics said, partially reflecting the return to work of federal employees on furlough in October.

Counties

November

October

November 2012

Cannon

5.8

6.9

6.0

Clay

10.0

11.0

10.2

Cumberland

8.4

9.0

8.1

DeKalb

7.1

8.1

7.1

Fentress

8.1

9.0

8.5

Jackson

9.2

9.8

9.1

Macon

6.6

8.7

7.5

Overton

8.3

8.3

7.3

Pickett

12.0

12.3

12.0

Putnam

6.6

7.7

6.8

Smith

6.1

6.7

6.6

Van Buren

10.0

11.0

11.3

Warren

7.9

9.1

9.1

White

9.9

11.0

11.3

UCDD

7.7

8.6

8.0

TN

7.4

8.2

7.2

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