RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN - Ninety-three of Tennessee’s 95 counties recorded unemployment rates below 5% in September, while statewide unemployment inched up for the month, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the month of September was 3.2%. That number is up 0.1 of a percentage point when compared to the August rate of 3.1%, which was Tennessee’s all-time low. Unemployment in seven Tennessee counties decreased in September. Eighty counties recorded small increases from their August rates, while eight counties matched their rates from the previous month.
Rutherford County recorded an unemployment rate of 2.8%, which means that Rutherford County ranked at number 5 on the list of top ten counties with the lowest jobless figures in the state. In looking at the individual cities within Rutherford County, Smyrna had the lowest unemployment numbers at 2.7%. Murfreesboro and LaVergne tied with an unemployment rate of 2.9% this past September.
Moore and Sevier counties had the state’s overall lowest unemployment rates for September. In Moore County, the 2.6% rate marked a 0.2 of a percentage increase from August, while the rate went up just 0.1 of a percentage point in Sevier County.
Bledsoe County came in with the highest unemployment for September. Its rate of 5.4% was 0.2 of a percentage point higher than the previous month. Lauderdale County had the second-highest rate at 5.3%, which accounted for a 0.5 a percentage point decrease from its 5.8% rate in August.
A complete overview of county unemployment data for September 2023, including labor force estimates for local areas across the state, is available here.
Data released earlier this month marked Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted September 2023 unemployment rate at 3.2%, while the national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged between August and September at 3.8%.
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