Nashville, TN – The unemployment situation in three-quarters of Tennessee’s 95 counties continued to improve in July following business closures earlier in the year due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus health emergency.
Montgomery County unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in July. That’s down 0.1 percent from June’s 10.0 percent.
Seventy-two counties had lower unemployment in July compared to the previous month. Rates in four counties mirrored their rates from June. Nineteen counties did experience a slight uptick in unemployment during the month.
Pickett County recorded the state’s lowest unemployment rate for the month. At 6.3%, the county’s rate dropped 0.7 of a percentage point compared to June’s rate.
Williamson County and Moore County had the second-lowest unemployment rates in July. Williamson County’s rate decreased 0.3 of a percentage point to 6.4%. In July 2019, its rate was 2.9%. Moore County’s June rate of 7.5% dropped to 6.4% in July. One year ago, it was 3.5%.
Shelby County continued to have the highest unemployment rate in Tennessee. The county’s number of jobless individuals in July jumped by 1.3 percentage points to 14.4%. In July 2019, Shelby County’s rate was 4.6%.
With a rate of 12.7%, Haywood County had the second-highest rate of unemployment in the state. The new rate increased 0.9 of a percentage point when compared to the previous month. One year ago, the rate was 5.3%. Hancock County’s unemployment jumped 1.8 percentage points to 12.5% in July. In July 2019 the county had a rate of 7.3%.
When surveying unemployment in Tennessee’s three largest cities, Knoxville had the lowest rate in July, which held steady at 9.4%. Nashville’s unemployment saw a slight uptick of 0.1 of a percentage point to 12.1%. Memphis experienced the biggest increase in July. Its unemployment rate grew by 1.6 percentage points to 16.9%. In July 2019, Knoxville had a rate of 3.8%%, Nashville was at 2.9%, and the Memphis rate one year ago was 5.1%
The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Tennessee decreased for the third consecutive month in July from 9.6% to 9.5%.
Nationally, unemployment also decreased in July. The preliminary, seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate is 10.2%, a 0.9 of a percentage point drop from the previous month’s rate.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has a comprehensive report detailing the unemployment situation in each of the state’s 95 counties. You can access that report by clicking here.
