The unemployment rates in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties decreased in September, according to new data released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Twenty-seven counties recorded unemployment rates below 5%, while 68 counties have a rate of 5% or higher. There are no counties with an unemployment rate higher than 10% in September.
In Rutherford County, the September unemployment rate rang in at 5.4%. That is down 2.2 points compared to the August unemployment rate that was 7.6%. Despite the Rutherford County rate falling, it has yet to fall low enough to be in the top ten list for having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state.
Once again, Moore County has the state’s lowest unemployment rate. Its September figure of 3.2% is 1.9 percentage points lower than the previous month’s rate.
Shelby County continues to have Tennessee’s highest unemployment. While its September rate is 9.9%, the new figure represents a drop of 3.7 percentage points from where it was in August.
The rate in Memphis dropped 4.2 percentage points to 12.1%. Nashville’s September rate is down 3.1 percentage points and sits at 7.5%. Knoxville saw a 2.4 percentage point drop in its rate which is now 5.8%. Unemployment in the Tri-Cities area stands at 5.3% for the month, down 1.9 percentage points from its revised August rate.
Statewide, unemployment dropped to its lowest level in September since hitting an all-time high in April during the peak of COVID-19 business closures. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the month is 6.3%, a decrease of 2.3 percentage points from the revised August rate of 8.6%.
