NASHVILLE – The unemployment situation in three-quarters of Tennessee’s 95 counties continued to improve in July following business closures earlier in the year due to the COVID-19 health emergency, according to a Thursday news release from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Seventy-two counties had lower unemployment in July compared to the previous month. Rates in four counties mirrored their rates from June. Nineteen counties did experience a slight uptick in unemployment during the month.
Pickett County recorded the state’s lowest unemployment rate for the month. At 6.3%, the county’s rate dropped 0.7 of a percentage point compared to June’s rate.
Williamson and Moore counties had the second-lowest unemployment rates in July. Williamson County’s rate decreased 0.3 of a percentage point to 6.4%. In July 2019, its rate was 2.9%. Moore County’s June rate of 7.5% dropped to 6.4% in July. One year ago, it was 3.5%.
Shelby County continued to have the highest unemployment rate in Tennessee. The county’s number of jobless individuals in July jumped by 1.3 percentage points to 14.4%. In July 2019, Shelby County’s rate was 4.6%.
With a rate of 12.7%, Haywood County had the second-highest rate of unemployment in the state. The new rate increased 0.9 of a percentage point when compared to the previous month. One year ago, the rate was 5.3%. Hancock County’s unemployment jumped 1.8 percentage points to 12.5% in July. In July 2019 the county had a rate of 7.3%.
When surveying unemployment in Tennessee’s three largest cities, Knoxville had the lowest rate in July, which held steady at 9.4%. Nashville’s unemployment saw a slight uptick of 0.1 of a percentage point to 12.1%. Memphis experienced the biggest increase in July. Its unemployment rate grew by 1.6 percentage points to 16.9%. In July 2019, Knoxville had a rate of 3.8%%, Nashville was at 2.9%, and the Memphis rate one year ago was 5.1%
The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Tennessee decreased for the third consecutive month in July from 9.6% to 9.5%.
Nationally, unemployment also decreased in July. The preliminary, seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate is 10.2%, a 0.9 of a percentage point drop from the previous month’s rate.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has a comprehensive report detailing the unemployment situation in each of the state’s 95 counties. You can access that report by clicking here.
Unemployed Tennesseans can find free job search assistance and career development opportunities at any of the more than 80 American Job Centers across the state. You can find the center nearest to you through this interactive map. Online, more than 200,000 active job listings are currently available on the state’s workforce development website.
The state of Tennessee will release the unemployment rate for August Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CT.