By Amye Anderson
UCBJ Managing Editor
UPPER CUMBERLAND – While still below the rates reported for the same period in 2017, the January 2018 unemployment rates per county in the Upper Cumberland are up from the previous month.
Every county in the Upper Cumberland region reported an increase in their unemployment rates in January; some by as much as one percentage point. Still well below the January 2017 reported rates, the majority of those rates reported per county in the UC exceed the state’s 3.8-percent; 3.3 percent when seasonally adjusted.
Cannon (3.4), Macon (3.3), Putnam (3.7), Smith (3.5), and White (3.9) counties each reported unemployment rates below 4 percent. Reporting the highest unemployment rates in the region are Clay (5.6), Cumberland (5.4), and Jackson (5.1). Rounding out the region are DeKalb (4.7), Fentress (4.5), Overton (4.5), Pickett (4.4), Van Buren (4.7), and Warren (4.1).
The region’s overall reported unemployment rate of 4.2 percent is slightly above the state’s rate of 3.8 percent but still well below the 5.7 percent rate reported in January 2017. The region’s unemployment rate is also well below the national average – 4.5 percent.
| Counties | January 2018 | December 2017 | January 2017 |
| Cannon | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.5 |
| Clay | 5.6 | 4.6 | 7.9 |
| Cumberland | 5.4 | 4.1 | 7.1 |
| DeKalb | 4.7 | 3.9 | 6.2 |
| Fentress | 4.5 | 3.9 | 5.8 |
| Jackson | 5.1 | 4.1 | 7.8 |
| Macon | 3.3 | 2.7 | 4.5 |
| Overton | 4.5 | 3.2 | 6.2 |
| Pickett | 4.4 | 3.5 | 6.8 |
| Putnam | 3.7 | 2.9 | 5.1 |
| Smith | 3.5 | 2.8 | 5.3 |
| Van Buren | 4.7 | 3.6 | 6.1 |
| Warren | 4.1 | 3.2 | 5.0 |
| White | 3.9 | 3.3 | 5.3 |
| UC | 4.2 | 3.3 | 5.7 |
| TN | 3.8 | 3.1 | 5.0 |
| US | 4.5 | 3.9 | 5.1 |
Source: Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development
