Unemployment rates decreased from November to December in 87 counties
All but four Tennessee counties recorded unemployment rates below 5% in December, according to new data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD). 91 counties reported unemployment rates below 5%, while the other four counties had rates of 5% or greater, with the highest rate at 5.7%.
Unemployment rates decreased from November to December in 87 counties. Rates increased in six counties and remained the same in two counties.
Williamson and Cheatham counties reported the lowest unemployment rates in December at 2.6%. For Williamson that was a decrease of two-tenths of a percentage point from its November rate. For Cheatham, that was a decrease of four-tenths of a percentage point.
The other counties rounding out the top 10 lowest unemployment rates in the state — Sevier, Wilson, Rutherford, Dickson, Macon, Sumner, Knox, and Haywood — all had rates of 2.7%.
Maury County’s unemployment rate of 5.7% was the highest in Tennessee last month. That rate was up 2.4 percentage points over November. Lewis County recorded the second-highest unemployment rate for the month at 5.6%, up 1.8 percentage points.
Perry County followed with a rate of 5.3%, which was down six-tenths of a percentage point from November. Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate in December was 3.6%.
Unlike the statewide rate, county rates are not adjusted to account for seasonal impacts on employment.
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