The DeKalb County unemployment rate for May was 10.8%, up slightly from the revised rate for April of 10.6% and significantly higher than the 5.6% rate recorded in May, 2008
The local labor force for May was 9,850. A total of 8,790 were employed and 1,060 were unemployed.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was at 10.7 percent, 0.8 percentage point higher than the April rate of 9.9 percent. The United States’ unemployment rate for the month of May was 9.4 percent.
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for May show that the rate increased in 88 counties, decreased in 6 counties and remained the same in one county.
Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, up from 6.3 in April. Perry County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 24.6 percent, up from 24.0 in April, followed by Lauderdale County at 19.2 percent, up from 18.2 percent in April. These figures do not reflect the impact of job-creation efforts in Perry County that were announced in May.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 8.0 percent, up 0.6 percentage point from the April rate. Davidson County was 8.6 percent, up 0.6. Hamilton County was 8.8 percent, up 0.6 percentage point, and Shelby County was 9.6 percent, up 0.7 percentage point.
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