Jobless rate increases 0.8% in Cumberland County

Moira Charnot, Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.
·2 min read

Mar. 27—Cumberland County's unemployment rate has risen 0.8% between December and January, from 4.4% to 5.2%—the eighth-highest in the state.

This is a similar rate to January 2022's unemployment rate, which was at 5.1%.

The county unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

The rise in unemployment may be due to a rise in the local labor force combined with the end of seasonal holiday jobs.

In January, Cumberland County's labor force has 23,338 people, with 1,223 people unemployed. This is a significant increase of 1,803 people in the labor force from December, which had 21,535 people in the labor force, 990 unemployed.

Tennessee overall began 2023 with continued low unemployment, the fourth consecutive month that the unemployment rate remained at 3.5%.

Compared to January 2022, the number was also unchanged. However, this story doesn't remain the same across all counties.

Each of the state's 95 counties experienced an increase in unemployment in January, though 80 of them continued to report unemployment rates lower than 5% — among them Williamson and Moore counties, tied for the state's lowest unemployment rate at 2.5%.

The remaining 15 counties had rates of 5% or greater, with Perry County having the highest unemployment rate by far at 9.9% — more than doubling its December rate of 4.5%.

Cocke County's unemployment rate also hiked, from 4% to 7%.

The remaining counties with the highest unemployment rates — Decatur, Bledsoe, Sevier, Houston, Scott, Lauderdale and Wayne — had considerably high increases as well.

Decatur rose from 4.2% to 6.1%, Bledsoe rose from 5.2% to 5.9%, Sevier rose from 2.5% to 5.7%, Houston rose from 4% to 5.3%, Scott rose from 4.3% to 5.3%, Lauderdale rose from 4.2% to 5.2%, and Wayne rose from 4.1% to 5.1%.

Throughout the month, Tennessee's workforce increases by 21,800 jobs.

The professional and business services sector led the state in job growth between December and January by about 8,000 jobs.

Following that was the leisure and hospitality sector, with an estimated 6,500 jobs added. Third was the mining, logging and construction sector with about 2,900 jobs added.

In the past year, Tennessee's employers added 123,000 jobs to their payrolls. The leisure and hospitality sector led the charge, with an estimated 27,700 jobs added. The trade, transportation and utilities sector saw the second highest amount of growth, with about 19,600 jobs added. The education and health services sector had the third-highest growth, with an estimated 17,600 jobs added.

Tennessee has more than 80 American Job Centers across the state, where job seekers can receive individualized help finding employment, with resume writing and skills training programs available. Job seekers can also find a variety of services at TNWorkReady.com.