Good News And Bad News In Unemployment Numbers

Individual county unemployment numbers have been released for the month of February. It’s good news, yet bad news for Cocke County. Jamuary’s unemployment rate spiked up to 7% in Cocke County, but was back down a little to 6.5% in February. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 6.5% unemployment rate is the highest in the state. Cocke County was the only county in the state with an unemployment rate higher than 6%.

Elsewhere, Greene County dropped from 5% in January to 4.8% in February. Hamblen County’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4%. Jefferson County had an unemployment rate of 4.5% in February, down from 4.7% in January. Sevier County, which usually has the lowest unemployment rate had the second highest in the area at 5.4%. Those numbers will probably all come down as we head into spring and seasonal positions reopen in the tourism industry.

The unemployment rate in the state of Tennessee sits at 3.5%. The nationwide unemployment rate is just a tick higher at 3.6%.