More people are jobless across Tennessee this month, including those in Cannon County. New figures show the county’s unemployment rate is 6.1 percent…up four tenths of a percent from the month before. The county rate matches the national jobless rate, which is more than a point lower than Tennessee’s current 7.2 percent unemployment rate.
Unemployment rates for September 2008 show joblessness increasing in 84 counties. The rate decreased in seven counties and remained the same in four counties.
Cannon County’s neighbors all showed increases in joblessness in the past month. The lowest unemployment rate is 5.8 percent in Wilson County. The highest is 8.9 percent in Warren County. Dekalb’s rate is 7 percent, Coffee’s is 6.6 percent and Rutherford’s unemployment stands at 6.4 percent this month.
Williamson County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 5.0 percent. Perry County had the state’s highest at 16.8 percent, followed by Johnson County at 13.6 percent.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate at 5.3 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from the September rate. Davidson County was 5.9 percent, up from 5.6 the previous month. Hamilton County was at 6.1 percent the same as the August rate, and Shelby County was 7.4 percent, up from the August rate of 7.1.