DeKalb Jobless Rate for February Climbs to 11.5%

The DeKalb County unemployment rate rose to 11.5% in February, up from 10.9% in January and significantly higher than 5.5% in February, 2008.
The local labor force for February was 9,800. A total of 8,670 were employed and 1,130 were unemployed.
Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February is at 9.1 percent, 0.5 percentage point higher than the January rate of 8.6 percent. The United States unemployment rate for the month of February was 8.1 percent.
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for February show that the rate increased in 63 counties, decreased in 29 counties and remained the same in three counties.
Williamson County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 6.2 percent, down from 6.8 percent in January. Perry County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 24.1 percent, down from 27.3 in January, followed by Scott County at 18.1 percent, up from 17.7 percent in January.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 7.2 percent, up 0.6 percentage point from the January rate. Davidson County was 7.5 percent, up 0.6 from the previous month. Hamilton County was at 7.9 percent, up 0.6 percentage point from the January rate, and Shelby County was 8.6 percent, up from the January rate of 8.5 percent.