DeKalb Jobless Rate Drops to 6.8% in March

The DeKalb County unemployment rate for March was 6.8%, down from 7.1% in February and well below the 8.6% rate in March, 2013.
The Labor Force in DeKalb County for March was 9,110. A total of 8,490 were employed and 620 were without work.
DeKalb County’s jobless rate for March was fifth lowest in the Upper Cumberland Region. Here is how the fourteen counties ranked from highest to lowest:
Pickett: 12.4%
Van Buren: 10.4%
Clay: 10%
White: 8.9%
Cumberland:8.7%
Jackson: 8.2%
Overton: 8.1%
Warren:7.7%
Fentress: 7.6%
DeKalb:6.8%
Smith: 6.6%
Putnam: 6.5%
Macon: 6%
Cannon: 5.6%
County unemployment rates for March 2014 show the rate decreased in 86 counties, increased in four, and remained the same in five.
Davidson County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 5.5 percent in March, down from 5.6 percent in February. Knox County’s March rate was 5.6 percent, down from 5.7. Hamilton County was 6.8 percent, down from 6.9. Shelby County was 8.4 percent, the same as for February. Tennessee’s unemployment rate for March was 6.7 percent, which is two-tenths of one percentage point lower than the February revised rate. The national unemployment rate for March 2014 was also 6.7 percent, the same as for February.
The state unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series.