Flood Causes Unemployment Rate To Rise

As expected, the flood caused by Hurricane Helene in late September had an adverse effect on October unemployment numbers in two East Tennessee counties, including Cocke County. Many businesses were affected by the flood and had to close operations, which put numerous individuals out of work. The unemployment rate went up one percentage point from 4.3% in September to 5.3% in October in Cocke County. Of the 15,177 individuals in the labor force in Cocke County, 804 of them were unemployed in October. Unicoi County was the other hard hit county as the unemployment rate went from 4.3% in September to 5.6% in October after the flood. One of the biggest factors there was the destruction of Impact Plastics which was nearly washed away by the flood. Six employees of that business lost their lives.

Elsewhere around the area, Greene County stayed steady at 4.4%. Hamblen County was down from 3.6% to 3.5%. Jefferson County was also down from 3.7% in September to 3.5% in October. Sevier County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.6%. The highest was 6% in Weakley County, which is in West Tennessee. Overall, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, rates in two-thirds of Tennessee’s counties were down in October from what they were in September. The unemployment rate in Tennessee currently sits at 3.3% while the US rate is 4.1%.