RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN – Every county in Tennessee experienced lower unemployment rates in August, according to data released by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. For the month, 89 counties recorded rates below 5%, while the remaining six counties came in with rates higher than 5%, but less than 10%.

Rutherford County was tied with Sumner County at numbers 6 and 7 on the list naming the top 10-counties with the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Both Rutherford and Sumner Counties recorded a 2.7% unemployment rate in August. Reports indicate September unemployment figures will be released towards the end of this month on October 20, 2022.  

When diving deeper into the unemployment numbers, it appears that Murfreesboro and Smyrna had the lowest unemployment rates in Rutherford County for the month of August (2022), both with a 2.8% figure. The previous month of July ended with Smyrna having an unemployment rate  of 2.9% and Murfreesboro closing at 3.2%. LaVergne’s unemployment rate for August was just behind Murfreesboro and Smyrna at 2.9%, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than LaVergne’s July unemployment rate of 3.4%.

Jobless numbers for August of this year were much better than unemployment figures one-year-ago in Rutherford County. The unemployment rate for Murfreesboro in August of 2021 sat at 3.4%. Today, that number has dropped to an unemployment figure of 2.8%. Smyrna recorded an unemployment rate of 3.5% in August of 2021 and today sits at 2.8% (August of 2022). In LaVergne, the numbers significantly dropped from 4.2% in August of 2021 to 2.9% in August of 2022.

 
LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT IN TN - Williamson County’s unemployment rate was the lowest in Tennessee during August. At 2.3%, the county’s rate dropped by 0.3 of a percentage point from its July figure of 2.6%. Cheatham County came in with the state’s second-lowest rate for the month at 2.5%, a 0.3 of a percentage point drop when compared to the previous month. Moore County’s rate was the third-lowest in August at 2.6%, also down 0.3 of a percentage point.
 
HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN TN - Perry County recorded the state’s highest jobless number for the month at 5.6%. Its new rate accounted for a 0.7 of a percentage point drop from its July rate of 6.3%. Bledsoe County had the second-highest rate in August at 5.4% but its rate dropped by 0.7 of a percentage point for the month. With the third-highest rate, Shelby County’s new figure of 5.3% was down 0.7 of a percentage point from its July rate.

MORE ON UNEMPLOYMENT - Statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment did inch up in August. It was the first increase after three consecutive months of a steady rate. It went from 3.3% to 3.4% between July and August.
 
Nationally, seasonally adjusted unemployment increased slightly between July and August, up 0.2 of a percentage point to 3.7%.
 
County unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted to account for different impacts on the workforce.
 
A complete analysis of Tennessee’s August 2022 county unemployment rates is available here.
 
Job seekers can find all the resources and the services they need to start their search, all in one place. TNWorkReady.com is the site to find a new job, develop new skills, or find classes where adult learners can earn a high school equivalency diploma.
 
The state of Tennessee will release the statewide unemployment data for September 2022 on Thursday, October 20, 2022