Unemployment Up in All 95 Tennessee Counties

The end of seasonal holiday jobs in January can be counted as one of the contributing factors that led to higher county unemployment rates across Tennessee for the month. While statewide unemployment numbers are adjusted to consider the impacts of seasonal labor, county unemployment rates are not adjusted, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Each of Tennessee’s 95 counties saw an increase in unemployment during January. 80 counties reported rates less than 5%, while the remaining 15 had rates of 5% or greater, but less than 10%. Williamson and Moore counties had the state’s lowest unemployment for the month. Both counties recorded rates of 2.5% in January. That accounted for a 0.3 of a percentage point increase for both counties when compared to their rates in December.

Locally, in Anderson County, unemployment climbed by a half a point from December’s 2.9 to 3.4% in January. Also climbing by a half a point last month were unemployment rates in Roane County—which went from 3.3% to 3.8% – and Knox County, where the rate went from 2.5 to 3.0%.

The largest increase in our area was in Morgan County, where unemployment rose by a full percentage point, going from 3.7% to close out 2022 to 4.7% in January. Campbell County’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.5% last month, an increase of eight-tenths of a point from December’s 3.7%.

Statewide, January’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%, the fourth consecutive month at that level.