DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for the month of May was an even 10 percent, down eight-tenths of a percentage point from the revised April rate of 10.8 percent.
According to Labor Force figures, DeKalb County’s work force for May was 9,600, with 8,640 persons employed, while 960 were unemployed. The May, 2010, rate was also significantly lower than that of May, 2009, when 10.6 percent of the county’s workforce was unemployed.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for May was 10.4 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the April rate of 10.5 percent. Unemployment rates in Tennessee decreased in 86 of the state’s 95 counties in May, increased in seven counties and stayed the same in two counties.
In Local Workforce Investment Area 7, which includes DeKalb and 11 other Upper Cumberland counties, Cannon County had the lowest jobless rate at 8.4 percent, followed by Putnam County at 9.2 percent. DeKalb County and Macon County were next in line at 10 percent each, with Smith County next at 10.5 percent. Other jobless rates in the area include the following: Overton County, 10.7 percent; Jackson County, 11.5 percent; Fentress County, 11.7 percent; Clay County, 12.3 percent; White County, 12.5 percent; Van Buren County, 12.6 percent; and Pickett County, 13.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 6.6 percent, down from 7.1 percent in April. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 19.8 percent, down from 20.2 percent in April, followed by Marshall County at 16.7 percent, down from 17.3 percent in April.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 7.7 percent, down from 8.2 percent in April. Davidson County was 8.9 percent, unchanged from the April rate. Hamilton County was at 8.6 percent, down from 9.0 in April, and Shelby County was 10.0 percent, down from 10.2 in April.
The national unemployment rate for the month of May was 9.7 percent.
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