Unemployment down in nearly every Tennessee county

New data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development highlighted an improving economy with lower unemployment in nearly every county across the state in August.

Benton was the only county with a slight increase of 0.1 of a percentage point in its month-to-month comparison.

Lewis and surrounding counties showed a decrease in unemployment. Lewis County declined 7.6 percent, from 8.8 percent. Maury County decreased to 8 percent from 10.1; Wayne County, 7.4 percent from 9 percent; Hickman County, 6 percent from 7.1 percent; Perry County, 8.2 percent from 10.4 percent; and Lawrence County, 7.7 percent from 9.5 percent.

Moore County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in August. At 5.1 percent, unemployment in the county dropped by 1.3 percentage points when compared to the previous month’s revised rate of 6.4 percent.

Pickett and Williamson counties had the next lowest rates in the state. Shelby County experienced the state’s highest unemployment in August.

At 11.4 percent, Haywood County had the second-highest unemployment rate for the month. Davidson County recorded the third-highest unemployment rate in August at 10.4 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from the county’s July statistic.

All the assistance is free to anyone who needs help finding a new job or career path. Jobs4TN.gov, Tennessee’s workforce development website, currently has 219,000 open positions for all job skill levels.