January 2009 County Unemployment Rates

NASHVILLE – Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2009 was released last week at 8.6 percent, 1.0 percentage point higher than the December rate of 7.6 percent. The United States unemployment rate for the month of January was 7.6 percent.

 

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for January 2009, released today, show that the rate increased in all 95 counties.  All counties also recorded over-the-year unemployment rate increases.

 

Lincoln County and Knox County registered the state's lowest county unemployment rate at 6.6 percent. Perry County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 27.3 percent, up from 20.1 in December, followed by Lauderdale County at 18.6 percent, up from 15.7 percent in December.

 

Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 6.6 percent, up 0.9 percentage point from the December rate.  Davidson County was 7.0 percent, up 1.1 from the previous month.  Hamilton County was at 7.4 percent, up 1.0 percentage point from the December rate, and Shelby County was 8.6 percent, up from the December rate of 7.4 percent.

 

NOTE: Information will be available on the Internet; enter http://www.tennessee.gov/labor-wfd/labor_figures/january2009county.pdf.